Anon, (1962), Automatic Programming Languages for Business and Science-Anon, (1962), Automatic Programming Languages for Business and Science, a two-day conference held at Northampton College of Advanced Technology with the co-operation of the BCS.in April 1962. T.R. Thompson presented a paper on considering the fundamental principles for expressing a procedure for a computer application independently of any compiler or computer considerations. The Conference papers […]
Anon (2011) ‘ICL Mainframe Computers’-Anon (2011) ‘ICL Mainframe Computers’, Books LLC.This 19 page pamphlet gives a brief description of a number of UK designed and manufactured computers including the LEO range, pages 18 and 19. All the texts are lifted from Wikipedia entries and include some errors made in these entries.
Arms, William Y, (2019), Early Years of Academic Computing-Arms, William Y, (2019), Early Years of Academic Computing, Cornell University, Internet University Press. The memoirs include a brief account of the LEO story including a photo of LEO III. See http://www.cs.cornell.edu/wya/AcademicComputing/text/titlepage.html
Bruderer, Herbert: Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing-Bruderer, Herbert: Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing, Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Cham, 3rd edition 2020, 2 volumes, 2113 pages, 715 illustrations, 151 tables, Englishversion. https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783030409739
Campbell-Kelly, M. (1989) ‘ICL A Business and Technical History’-Campbell-Kelly, M. (1989) ‘ICL A Business and Technical History’, Clarendon Press, Oxford.The history of ICL is synonymous with the history of the British computer industry. ICL was formed by a series of mergers in response to the increasing market dominance of the large American corporations, particularly IBM. The struggles between these two giants and the […]
Carmichael, Hamish (ed.) (1996) ‘An ICL anthology’-Carmichael, Hamish (ed.) (1996) ‘An ICL anthology’, Chapter 6, LEO, pp. 91-94, Laidlaw Hicks Publishers, Surbiton. Chapter 6 presents an anthology of quotations about LEO, mainly from LEO personnelSee An ICL Anthology
Ceruzzi, Paul E. (2003) ‘A History of Modern Computing’-Ceruzzi, Paul E. (2003) ‘A History of Modern Computing’ (2nd edition), MIT Press. Reports on the role played by Lyons and LEO in the development of business computing. See A History of Modern Computing
Cooper, M., (2022), Remembering the world’s first business computer,-review of LEO Remembered coupled with reference to LEO Film and the Science Writer’s award, published in Winter Edition of IT NOW, Volume 64, Issue 4. The British Computer Society publishes 35,000 copies of IT NOW. See: IT Now
Davis,G.R., Editor (2005), Management Information Systems-Davis,G.R., Editor (2005), Management Information Systems, in the chapter ‘History of Organisations using Information Systems’ notes on page 147 UK enterprises including Lyons and LEO but mistakenly states Lyons worked with Manchester University not Cambridge University. Volume 7 The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management.
Glass, R.L., (1999), In the Beginning: Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers-Glass, R.L., (199), In the Beginning: Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers, pages 134 – 153, published by IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamos, CA, includes Land, F.. LEO the First Business Computer: A personal recollection, Frank Land. See In the Beginning
Glass, R.L., (2020), In the Beginning: Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers 2.0-Glass, R.L., (2020), In the Beginning: Personal Recollections of Software Pioneers 2.0, published by Developer Books, Hogansville, GA, Chapter 5: LEO the First Business Computer: A personal recollection, Frank Land, pp 249 – 288 and brief biography of Frank Land, pp 611 – 613. See In the beginning
Greenia, Mark (2003) ‘The History of Computing: An Encyclopaedia of People and Machines that made Computer History’-Greenia, Mark (2003) ‘The History of Computing: An Encyclopaedia of People and Machines that made Computer History’, Lexikon Services. A useful and comprehensive chronology of computer history including recognition of Lyons and LEO plus pictures and descriptions of the LEO initiatives. Note: a photo of LEO II/1 is wrongly labelled LEO 1, and the link […]
Greenia, Mark, (2021)-Greenia, Mark, (2021), Mark writes: “I found a 1966 film about the LEO III in Manchester, which I posted to my site. I include a link to your LEO 1 History video in the description section for people to follow if they want the early history” See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_0Astp1dEU
Grindley, C.B.B., (1975), Systematics-Grindley, C.B.B., (1975), Systematics, McGraw-Hill, New York. Based on his experience working with LEO, Grindley sets out a ‘language’ for defining information systems.
Haigh, T., Ceruzzi, P., (2021), A New History of Modern Computing-Haigh, T., Ceruzzi, P., (2021), A New History of Modern Computing, an updating of the earlier book by Paul Ceruzzi, includes reference to the Lyons and LEO story as the first business computer. Published by MIT Press. See https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/new-history-modern-computing
Hally, Mike (2003) ‘Electronic Brains: stories from the dawn of the Computer age’-Hally, Mike (2003) ‘Electronic Brains: stories from the dawn of the Computer age’, Granta Publications, London.The book is based on 4 BBC radio programmes produced by Mike Hally. Despite its populist title, it is a very readable and informative account of some early computer ventures in the USA, UK, Soviet Union and Australia. Chapter 5 […]
Harding, Thomas, (2019), Legacy: One Family, a Cup of Tea, and the Company that Took on the World-Harding, Thomas, (2019), Legacy: One Family, a Cup of Tea, and the Company that Took on the World, Penguin Books. Legacy charts the rise and fall of one of the most influential dynasties in British history through the lives of five astonishing generations; both sweeping and intimate, it is a story of sacrifice and selflessness, […]
Hendry, John (1990) ‘Innovating for Failure. Government Policy and the Early British Computer Industry’-Hendry, John (1990) ‘Innovating for Failure. Government Policy and the Early British Computer Industry’, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. xx, 240 pp. Hendry analyses the failure of the British Computer Industry in spite of the efforts of the NRDC to rationalise the industry. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Innovating-Failure-Government-Computer-Computing/dp/0262081873
Hicks, Mar (2017) ‘Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost its Edge in Computing’-Hicks, Mar (2017) ‘Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost its Edge in Computing’, MIT Press. Marie Hicks, an American Academic, has produced a well-researched and in many ways fascinating account of the British Computer Industry from its birth at the beginning of World War 2 code-breaking at Bletchley Park to the demise […]
Hollingdale, S.H. & Toothill , G.C., (1965), Electronic Computers-Hollingdale, S.H. & Toothill , G.C., (1965), Electronic Computers. Penguin (Pelican) Books, London. This early book on the history of computers includes a number of references to LEO. See pages 230 and 281-282, and a photograph. It is a brief but accurate account noting payroll and teashop ordering. What is also interesting, in a book […]
IEEE History Foundation. Milestones By Year Dedicated And Region-IEEE History Foundation. Milestones By Year Dedicated And Region comprises a variety of relevant material related to the interests of the IEEE. It includes references to LEO and includes an oral history of LEO programmer BettyCooper, http://ethw.org/Oral-History:Betty_Cooper
Jones, Capers (2014) ‘The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering’-Jones, Capers (2014) ‘The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering’, Addison-Wesley. Capers Jones’s book is a monumental history of computers and computing with a prime focus on ‘software engineering’. Jones has an introductory chapter which deals with the pre-history from the beginning of civilisation to 1930, then chapters dealing with each decade up to […]
Kavanagh, J., (2007) ‘BCS – Celebrating 50 years’-Kavanagh, J., (2007) ‘BCS – Celebrating 50 years’, British Computer Society. 82 pages including a chapter titled ‘Birth of an Industry and the BCS’, which features Maurice Wilkes, photo of LEO I and potted history of LEO. More info at Google Books
Lavington, Simon (ed.) (2012) ‘Alan Turing and his Contemporaries’-Lavington, Simon (ed.) (2012) ‘Alan Turing and his Contemporaries’, British Computer Society. 111 pages, summarises the background to all the early British stored-program projects from 1945 – 1951. See Amazon
Lavington, S., (2019) Early Computing in Britain, Ferranti Ltd. and Government Funding, 1948 — 1958-Lavington, S., (2019) Early Computing in Britain, Ferranti Ltd. and Government Funding, 1948 — 1958, Springer Computer History Series. A valuable addition to the exposure UK computing developments in the early years of computers with a focus on the initiatives taken by the Ferranti Company, in particular with their Mark I. LEO is only referred […]
Marshall, Stephen (2015) ‘The Story of the Computer: A Technical and Business History’-Marshall, Stephen (2015) ‘The Story of the Computer: A Technical and Business History’, Kindle edition available. 592 pages the story of computing up to, but not including, the advent of smart phones. The LEO project is noted in Chapter 6, pages 198-189 and further mentions are made elsewhere such as the donation to EDSAC (Chapter […]
Mathews, S., (2007), From Agit-Prop to Free Space: The Architecture of Cedric Price-Mathews, S., (2007), From Agit-Prop to Free Space: The Architecture of Cedric Price, Black Dog Publishing, London, U.K., 2007. 285 pp. Cedric Price a “visionary” architect: one whose schemes were grand was hired by Lyons to propose a radical redesign of one of its Corner Houses. In practice Lyons decided that they could not afford […]
MOD Secrets of Eastcote Government Office Site:-MOD Secrets of Eastcote Government Office Site: The Customs Excise Years. (In 1947, under the inspiration of TR Thompson, Lyons, the firm of tea-shops, started – with remarkable foresight – to take a serious interest in applying digital computing to their accounting and office work generally. By 1954, LEO (Lyons Electrical Office) computers carried out 3 commercial […]
Shirley, Stephanie, (2012), ‘Let IT Go’-Andrews UK Limited. The book is Dame Shirley’s autobiography and as such deals with much more than her involvement with IT and the establishment of Freelance Programmers. It is included in this listing because the formation of F. International, overlaps the foundation and growth of LEO Computers and provides a further perspective on developments in […]
Sumner, R., (2020), I Ideas: How Ideas Shape Your World, Your Creativity, and Your Technology-Kendal Hunt publishers. The publication is about the relationship between ideas (philosophy, Christianity) and art/technology. The intended readership is graphic design students, but is also used a general education class for somestudents. Chapter 10, The Computer, Animation, & Gaming includes a photo of LEO I and a brief account of the building of the first […]
Turing, Dermot, (2018), The Story of Computing-Arcturus Publishing , London, includes a section on the Lyons/LEO place in the story of computing, and includes photo of LEO, Chapter 6, pages 106 to 110. Sir Dermot Turing is a nephew of Alan Turing, and 12 Baronet Turing. The book provides a comprehensive and readable account of the story of computing from abacus […]
Wilkes, M.V., (1985), Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer-MIT Press, History of Computing Series, In his chapter on EDSAC he talks about Lyons, starting with a visit to Cambridge by TRT and others in July 1947, mentioning George Booth, the £3,000 donation and loan of Lenaerts and ending with Lyons’ appointment of John Pinkerton, pages 132 – 134 . 4 pages archived at […]
Various authors (1956) ‘The Electronic Office’,-a collection of articles assembled by the Liverpool and Merseyside Branch of the Office Management Association following their conference in April. Includes articles by David Caminer and Oliver Standingford. Bound copy held by Hilary Caminer.
