LEO editor

DOB: 24.10.1928

Interviewer: Google
Date of Interview: 21.11.2011
Role in LEO: Programmer, Systems Analyst, Marketing, Consultant

Joined LEO: 1953
Abstract: Google interviewed and filmed a number of old LEO employees including Frank Land as part of the celebration at the Science Museum of the 60th anniversary of the roll out of the first business application on the LEO I computer. Narrated by Georgina Ferry/

Repository: Interview Text: Google Drive

Type of recorder:
Film:  Youtube Copyright: Google Free to view.

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Interviewee: Frank Land (2) Read More »

DOB: 24.10.1928

Interviewer: Professor Alan Eardley
Date of Interview: 21.02.2016
Role in LEO: Programmer, Systems Analyst, Marketing, Consultant Joined LEO: 1953

Abstract: Professor Alan Eardley interviewed and filmed Frank Land as part of his collection of material on the history of computing for his inaugural lecture at Stafford University, April 14th 2016.

Repository: Frank Land InterviewEditing in process
Copyright: Alan Eardley
Restrictions: Interview and video will be available to members of LEO Computer Society

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Interviewee: Frank Land (3) Read More »

DOB: 24.10.1928 

Interviewer: Paul Jagger, Director Archive IT
Date of Interview: 22.05.2018
Editor: Helen Carter, ArchiveIT

Role in LEO: Programmer, Systems Analyst, Marketing, Consultant Joined LEO: 1953

Abstract: Archives IT are conducting and archiving interviews of UK individuals who have contributed to the development and evolution of IT. Frank Land has been added to the archive with a whole life interview. Ninian Eady is also in the archive.

Archives IT repository:  Frank_Land

Interviewee: Frank Land (4) Read More »

DOB:24.10.1928

Interviewer: Martin Garthwaite as part of LEO Computer Society’s Oral History Project
Date of Interview: 31st October 2011

Role in LEO: Bureau Manager, Export Manager Joined LEO: 1954

Abstract: Ralph joined the Lyons Teashop Division in 1953 as management accountant for the Teashops and transferred to LEO in 1954. He rose to manager of the LEO City Office followed by spells in promoting LEO exports in Paris and Dusseldorf before heading the LEO/English Electric team working in Eastern Europe including Soviet Russia. His subsequent career until retirement was with Rank-Xerox and Rolls Royce working on exports to Eastern Europe. Awarded OBE and subsequently CBE for services to UK export trade.

Text: Edited by Ralph Land and Hilary Caminer
Repository: Ralph_Land
Recording: MP3 

Interviewee:Ralph Land(2) Read More »

Interviewer: Google
Date of Interview: 21.11.2 011
Role in LEO: Bureau Manager, Export Manager Joined LEO: 1954

DOB:24.10.1928

Abstract: Google interviewed and filmed a number of old LEO employees including Ralph Land as part of the celebration at the Science Museum of the 60th anniversary of the roll out of the first business application on the LEO I computer. Narrated by Georgina Ferry/

Repository: Interview Text: to be completed

Type of recorder:
Film: YouTube Copyright: Google Free to view.

Interviewee:Ralph Land(1) Read More »

Interviewer: Google
Date of Interview: 21.11.2011
Role in LEO: Design Engineer, head of engineering procurement Joined LEO: 1949

Abstract: Google interviewed and filmed a number of old LEO employees including Ernest Kaye as part of the celebration at the Science Museum of the 60th anniversary of the roll out of the first business application on the LEO I computer. Narrated by Georgina Ferry.

Repository: Interview Text:

Type of recorder:
Film: YouTube Copyright: Google Free to view.

Interviewee: Ernest Kaye Read More »

DOB: 1930 Died: Aug 2019

Interviewer: Janet Abbate
Date of Interview: September 2001
Role in LEO: Programmer on LEO I and LEO II/I Joined LEO: 1953

Abstract: Betty joined Lyons as a labour cost clerk in the Statistical Office in September 1949. In 1953 she was selected for a LEO appreciation course, and as a result was offered a job as a programmer on LEO I. Despite scepticism about what LEO would be able to do she accepted the offer. She worked on a number of applications – payroll under Mary Blood (Coombs) and Tea Blending under Frank Land. She gained a reputation as a sound and reliable programmer. She left LEO to work as a programmer with EverReady before leaving to start a family.

Reference: Oral-History:Betty_Cooper and CCH

Interviewee: Betty Cooper (nee Newman) Read More »

Interviewee: John M.M. Pinkerton Interviewer: Chris Evans
Date of Interview: 1975
Role in LEO: Chief Engineer Joined LEO: 1948

1919-1997

Abstract: John Pinkerton joined Lyons as chief engineer at the very beginning of the LEO initiatve and led the engineering side until the merger with English Electric. He held senior engineering appointments within the merged companies until his retirement. Much of the success of the LEO enterprise lay in his genius for bringing innovative ideas to practical fruition – one of the true heroes of the information age.

Repository: London Science Museum
Audio Recording: Tape 6 in Christopher Evans’s ‘Pioneers of Computing’

Interviewee: John M.M. Pinkerton (2) Read More »

Interviewee: John M.M. Pinkerton 

Interviewer: John Pinkerton, self interview 

Date of Interview: 23.08.1988
Role in LEO: Chief Engineer
Joined LEO: 1948

Abstract: Pinkerton begins by discussing his education and wartime work in radar technology in England. He then describes his movement into the computer industry after World War II and his work on the LEO I and LEO II computers. In this context he discusses the British computer firms J. Lyons and Company, Leo Computers, English Electric Co., and International Computers Ltd.

Repository: Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Transcript: 54 pages
Copyright: Charles Babbage Institute
Download: Document

Interviewee: John M.M. Pinkerton (1) Read More »

Interviewer: Chris Evans
Date of Interview: !970s
Edited Transcript: Science Museum Copyright: Science Museum

Reprinted as Interview between J.R.M. Simmons, Director and Chief Comptroller of J. Lyons & Co., and the Science Museum, London. Appendix B, in Caminer, D.T., Aris, J.B., Hermon, P.M., Lanf, F.F. (editors and contributors) LEO The Incredible Story of the Wold’s first Business Computer, McGraw Hill, New York, pages 360-374

Interviewee: John Simmons Read More »