“The growing need for real-time access to information meant demand world wide was exploding”
The world was very different in 1960, even more so in the small Yorkshire village I called home. Most people had never heard of computers and thought electronics was something to do with “valves” in radios and televisions. Books on computing didn’t exist in our village until the library placed a special order for me, aged 11.
When my two books appeared, they detailed the workings of ENIAC and EDSAC, with photos showing boffins in white coats tinkering with electronic racks of equipment. I read with interest about such things as mercury delay lines used for memory, thermionic valves in logic gates and other magical components. Right then, it dawned on me that I may not be clever enough to live in this never-never land.
But I wasn’t going to give up easily. After I’d finished school, I applied for a position as technical writer at the English Electric Computer factory manufacturing large mainframes south of Manchester. It had recently merged with ICL, another mainframe manufacturer. At the interview, I was asked about my communication skills, which, in retrospect, was a
