Ernest Lenaerts: Extract from his diaries on the occasion of Princess Elizabeth’s visit to
Cadby Hall on 15 February 1951, including a demonstration of LEO I performing test
calculations.
▪ HRH was no more and no less impressed than I had expected. The information “printed at
the bottom which provided some light relief. Fortunately LEO made few mistakes –
obviously not subject to stage fright and the Demo went off smoothly. A little more
interest was shown I think in the interior of the machine when she saw the complexity of
the circuits – how many of this machines like these in existence?
Only one other in working condition – No others on commercial clerical problems. This
auspicious occasion called for an enormous improve in general tidyness of the lab and I
must make an effort to preserve this. My own desk was clear for the occasion – the first
time in months. Work on the machine can go ahead again and I have been given a more or
less free hand to proceed on which problem I deem the best tackled first. The object will
be to bring the machine to full operating condition as soon as possible so that Caminer &
Co can get [[weaving]] on some of the programmes that they have kept up their sleeves for
so long. The first and most obvious fault to be cleared is the corruption in the Teleprinter
which I Think are due to breakthro in the output Unit. Other troubles to be cleared are
occasional “1”s being added into the store. These have the effect of spoiling all of the test
programmes received from Cambridge ” View the post here.
