But to most people a computer was something to be found in the office, in a factory, not in a home.Īnd an even greater number of people had no idea what to do with a computer.īut a handful of people in the BBC, among them producers John Criwaczekm, David Allen, and John Radcliffe felt differently. I can't imagine that happening today - but then again, the BBC's involvement with Freeview, picking up the pieces from ITV Digital, has been arguably as forward thinking.Īt the start of the 1980s the microchip revolution was beginning to crank into gear. It seems incredible now that the BBC, a broadcaster, partnered with a technology company and put its name on the machine at a time when computers were such an unknown entity. Anyone over 30 is sure to feel a nostalgic glow whenever the BBC Micro is mentioned.įor almost the whole of the 1980s the Beeb, as it was known, was one of the main ways people in the UK accessed computer technology.
