The massive denial of service attack against the Internet Archive has been a bit of a blow. I rely on its archive of computer magazines so I need to find a different approach if I want to keep the two week cycle of updates going. What do I have in terms of other resources? I have a subscription to newspapers.com because I am unable to remember when a free seven day trial is about to
come to an end. How can I use that? What if I use it to find the first
and last mentions of selected UK home computers. It's a bit high concept
but I think I can make it work. So, what computers? Lets pick 10 and write about them in chronological order; The BBC Micro, Enterprise, ZX80, ZX81,
ZX Spectrum, Sinclair QL, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, and Amstrad CPC.
1980
ZX80. The CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS has the scoop on page 8 of the 29th January 1980 edition. Headline: Computer 'for all the family' is launched. It's a charming story that does it's best to introduce readers to this strange new world with its associated buzzwords; at one point the word software is put in quotes because the CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS clearly doesn't expect its readers to recognise the term. The report is illustrated with a murky picture of a beaming Clive Sinclair holding his new baby, Mr Sinclair says "I should think any child of 10 with normal arithmetical ability could use it." Which puts me in mind of the old Groucho Marx joke. "A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five."
1981
VIC-20. The Commodore VIC-20 was released in May 1981 but chronologically it sneaks into UK newspapers 17 days before the ZX81. 17th February 1981, a story on page 36 of the London evening newspaper called THE NEW STANDARD incorporating the Evening News. "Micro men hunt for an agency" headlined a story about Commodore's hunt for an advertising agency to market their forthcoming new home computer. These were the days when Commodore was still described as "the market leader in micro-computers for small businesses".
"Commodore produces PET which it claims is the biggest seller in computer systems for small businesses with about 30,00 currently in operation in the UK and selling for between £2000 to £3500. It's advertising is done by Print Packaging and Promotions who will continue with this account."
BBC Micro. The BBC Micro also sneaks ahead of the ZX81. The GUARDIAN carries a story on page 2, 23rd February 1981 "BBC micro-computer by mail order soon". This story is about the launch of the campaign to find the computer which would become the BBC Micro. It pre-dates Acorn's computer, released December 1981:
The BBC is to launch a campaign to bring the British home into the computer era. It is also set to sell us the tool to do the job: the BBC micro-computer available to you by mail order, at around £200.
A British electronics firm will make and sell the BBC micro-computer under a deal about to be signed...
The BBC micro-computer will not be the cheapest on the market but it is claimed to give extra power, flexibility, and potential for expansion in return.
ZX81. The CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS again. Thursday 5th March 1981, a page one story on the first edition. "Sinclair unveils £60 computer". Mr Sinclair is now described as "electronics wizard Clive Sinclair." The CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS obviously feels its readers are now more familiar with the age of electronics and goes into a little technical detail. The ZX81 has:
Many more powerful features, including the ability to produce flicker-free graphics, which are used in computer games.
1982
Commodore 64. THE GUARDIAN, 13th January 1982 page 13, "Commodore airs the copycat computer" is the harsh headline to a slightly confusing story about Commodore's proposed new home computer. The first part of the story talks about Commodore's plans to make a personal computer which:
Can emulate those of Apple Computer, Tandy, IBM and others but that would sell for a much lower price... Aided by one of several special circuits plugged into its back, the Commodore machine will be able to read and operate from programmes recorded on magnetic discs intended for Apple, Tandy, IBM or other computers without modification.
The report then segues into talking about "the new Commodore machine... next September," and continues:
Rumours
that Commodore had developed an inexpensive substitute for Apple
Computers, known as an emulator started circulating at the [Consumer
Electronics] tradeshow when Commodore displayed a new computer, the
model 64. Apple stock dropped nearly $2 a share in over-the-counter
trading that day.
Writer
Richard Shaffer then adds: "The Commdore 64 is not an Apple emulator."
He's talking about two separate computers, the mythical Apple/Tandy/IBM
emulator and the Commodore 64, but he keeps switching between the two in
way that I find not at all clear. Maybe he had trouble
reading his notes from the day.
 |
| DAILY TELEGRAPH 24 April 1982 page 19 |
ZX Spectrum. A trio of newspapers carry a report on the launch of the ZX Spectrum, on Saturday 24th April 1982. The CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS, again (not surprising, it was basically Sinclair's local newspaper) opened their report: "Cambridge electronics wizard Clive Sinclair shook the computer world again yesterday by announcing a new powerful machine costing a fraction of the price of its rivals." THE GUARDIAN went with: "Clive Sinclair, the 45-year-old British electronics entrepreneur, yesterday launched his third home computer in two years, having sold half a million of the first two brands. The new one, marginally up market, is called the ZX Spectrum." The DAILY TELEGRAPH opened their report by describing Sinclair as "the mercurial entrepreneur who makes the world's largest selling computer." "Bouncing back," is how they caption their picture of Clive Sinclair because, apparently he is bounding back from all those 1979 problems at Sinclair Radionics; three years ago. Which is it, the DAILY TELEGRAPH? Is Sinclair "bouncing back", or does he make "the world's largest selling computer"? In which case, I would argue he has already bounced back.
THE GUARDIAN and the CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS both mention Sinclair's bitterness towards Acorn. THE GUARDIAN: "But in introducing the new Spectrum in London, Mr Sinclair exposed the chip on his shoulder about the Government's decision to offer the rival Cambridge Acorn computer to schools and the BBC's choice of Acorn for its own TV-programme-related personal computer. CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS quotes Sinclair's quip that: "we thought of several names for this, including 'Not the BBC computer' but in the end settled for Spectrum."
 |
| STAFFORDSHIRE NEWSLETTER 20 August 1982 page 3 |
Dragon 32. Dragon Data's Dragon 32 computer was revealed in August 1982 and it would have first come to a lot of people's attention through local computer shop adverts like the one above. Well done on the Enter the Dragon pun, guys. Ignoring shop adverts, it's perhaps a bad omen the next mention appears to be this one from the WHITSTABLE TIMES, 1st October 1982 page 21.
Unwanted gift? It's not even Christmas yet. Leaving all that aside the first proper newspaper article comes two weeks later, 14 October 1982 page 16, the MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS. "Mettoy back on the crest of a wave?" It's a mostly good news story describing how the stock market has realised the Dragon could revive the fortunes of parent company Mettoy; shares have nearly doubled in value to 16p! Demand for the new computer was high. Unless you live at Medway 50935. Mettoy reported phone lines were jammed after the advert below appeared in "one of the Sunday supplements."
 | |||
| SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 3 October 1982 page 77 |
Sadly the good news didn't last. Meetoy needed money to pay debts and before the end of the month had sold their major stake in Dragon Data to a consortium. Mettoy struggled on for another year before calling in the receivers at the end of October 1983. June 1984 saw Dragon Data do the same.
1983
 |
| EVENING STANDARD 27 September 1983 page 41 |
Enterprise. The computer which became the Enterprise was revealed to the press as the Elan Enterprise. A flurry of identical reports run in regional newspapers across the week of 26th September 1983. The report credited to Merion Jones, presumably as part of a nationally syndicated computer column, starts: "On paper the Elan Enterprise beats every existing home computer hands down." The column runs in the BURTON MAIL and the MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS on Monday 26th September 1983. It's picked up later in the week in the CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS, HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER, and more. It's an introduction to the new computer, complete with photograph, and for a lot of people it would have been the first and last time they saw the troubled computer.
1984
Sinclair QL. Finally the CAMBRIDGE EVENING NEWS was beaten to the reveal of a new Sinclair computer. The EVENING STANDARD got there first by reporting the launch on the day it happened, 12 January 1984. "The only thing wrong with Sir Clive Sinclair's astonishing new computer, formally launched today, is the name. The QL is so called, we're told, because it stands for Quantum Leap." That seems like a perfectly reasonable name.
According to the report:
As the QL was unveiled, the first display that flashed up on the screen said: "Don't panic unless you make computers."
Yes, it's round two of the Sinclair/Apple beef:
There are plenty of other opportunities looming for Sinclair. The company may propose the QL when the BBC TV contract comes up for renewal later this year, said Sir Clive.
"The BBC moves in mysterious ways. We certainly want to redress the balance whereby a competitor gets massive free publicity. Unlike the BBC Micro", says Sir Clive pointedly "the QL will not be made overseas."
Amstrad CPC. Spoiling Sinclair's plans for world domination, Alan Sugar launched the Amstrad CPC 464. The launch is discussed in another syndicated computer column, this time by Leo Zanelli. "The event of the week, it may even become the event of the year- was the launch of Amstrad's CPC 464 computer." He wrote in, amongst other papers, the SCUNTHORPE EVENING TELEGRAPH on 24 April 1984; page 2. He's not referring to the canapés, it's a chance for Leo to launch into a bit:
The usual method is for a manufacturer to hold a press conference, presenting a prototype that "may" be available "some time in the future."
Amstrad don't know this, and showed a delighted press actual production models -and the news that the computer was already in the distribution pipeline! I'm still pinching myself.
I hope Leo wasn't thinking of Sinclair's QL press conference at the start of the year.
1986
Enterprise is a pretty common word, so tracking down its last appearance was a bit of a chore. It comes in another one of Leo Zanelli's syndicated columns, printed first in the EVENING POST Saturday 12 July 1986 page 29 and later THE HICKLEY TIMES 25 July 1986 page 29. Presumably it was popping up in regional newspapers across the UK in the second half of the month. The fullest version of the column I've been able to find starts:
As an owner of two of their excellent machines I am sad to report the demise of Enterprise computers... The specification and price put it among the front-runners but unfortunately the machine didn't arrive in the shops until a year later. In computing a year is a long, long time... The only criticism I had, was that the keyboard, while adequate, wasn't a typist's keyboard. Apart from that, it was a cracker and I'm sorry to see it go.1990
Dragon 32. Four
years after Dragon Data went into receivership, the SOUTH WALES EVENING POST, 19 November 1990 page 11,
gave Dragon its last mention when it reported on the success of Orion,
the Japanese electronics company which moved in to the Port Talbot
factory after Dragon moved out.
2003
Sinclair QL. Last mention for the QL? This comment, which I don't even begin to understand, in THE GUARDIAN, 25 September 2003 page 77:
IBM fellow Mike Cowlishaw has finally released a version of his programmable World Globe for Windows, 12 years after the 16-bit OS/2 original. Since Mike created the Rexx language, loved by many former Amiga owners (not to mention Sinclair QL and Palm users, etc), all PMGlobe commands can be used in Rexx macros.
2016
VIC-20. By 2016 THE NEW STANDARD has regenerated into the EVENING STANDARD and that's where I found the last mention of the VIC-20. 8th July 2016 page A40 of the business section in a profile of Jim Mullen, head of Ladbrokes,"The canny Scot wagering he can return beleaguered bookmaker to top form". It's a throwaway mention:
Mullen's father, who worked for the Scottish TUC after leaving the mines, was a "very bright" self-educated man who "made sure I did well at school, sent me to the right schools." It was there he discovered his interest in computing, bashing out basic programmes on a tiny Commodore VIC-20.
2021
ZX80. The last mention, as I should have expected, comes in an obituary for Clive Sinclair, THE INDEPENDENT Monday 27 September 2021 page 37. "Visionary who gave us the first home computers". The ZX80 is described as:
Revolutionary... produced through a new company, Sinclair Research.
Priced at around £100, the machine was a pioneering introduction to a
new world of affordable microcomputers.
2022
ZX81.The last mention of the ZX81 doesn't come in Sinclair's obituary. Instead it is in THE GUARDIAN, Saturday 2nd July 2022 page 50, in a culture section article about the making of Tron:
Back in 1982, computers meant one of two things in the popular imagination. Either they were room-sized machines used by the military-industrial complex to crunch data on stuff like nuclear wars and stock markets, or they were fridge-sized arcade machines such as Space Invaders and Pac-Man. Kraftwerk were singing about home computers but if you owned one at all, it was probably a Sinclair ZX81, which was only marginally more sophisticated than a calculator.
Commodore 64. The last mention of the C64 comes in a much more serious story about Steve Thomspon, England's Rugby World Cup winning hooker, who was diagnosed in 2020 with early onset dementia caused by repeated blows to the head. The 21st December 2022 EVENING STANDARD story, page A25, says: "All that Steve Thompson wants for Christmas is a few quiet days with his family -and to get his hands on the retro Commodore 64 games console coming his way."
Thompson
cannot remember anything about winning the World Cup with England in
2003, but he will get the shivers when meeting up with his East Midlands
Under-19s team-mates...
“I don’t get goosebumps with the World Cup,
but when I meet up with my old mates and we talk about the East Midlands
Under-19s, which I can remember, I get them. I get all excited about
that,” Thompson told Standard Sport.
“But England, it’s just not
there. Even when I pick out my England caps, it’s as though they’re
someone else’s. There’s no log that goes with them to make the emotion. I
start thinking, ‘I should do, I should [remember that]’, but there’s
nothing tied to them at all.
“Whereas for Christmas I’m going to get a Commodore 64 — and I’m so excited about it, the nostalgia."
It's
a sad story. It's possible we'll see old computer games becoming more
important in the care of people with conditions like dementia. The
familiarity and, as Steve Thompson says the nostalgia, of loved computer games could be a very good way of helping with the care and comfort of people affected by the condition.
2023
Amstrad CPC.
Last mention, 10 December 2023 page 44 of THE INDEPENDENT. A review of the top 20 shows of 2023. In at number 20:
The Idol
I've copped a lot of flack on social media for my four-star review of the first episode (just the first episode as I keep reminding people) of Sky's The Idol. Created by Euphoria supremo Sam Levinson and Abel "The Weekend" Tesfaye, The Idol was like nothing else on TV in 2023 (or ever). Over its five-episode run, it went absolutely nowhere but did so quite spectacularly. Its subversive obsession with the grotesqueness of sex -not to mention dialogue that sounded like ChatGPT wrote it on an Amstrad CPC -was unique if nothing else.
2024
BBC Micro. The last mention, so far, came this year, 16th May 2024 page 35, in THE GUARDIAN again as part of a profile of the Raspberry Pi foundation:
One of the six founders of the Raspberry Pi foundation, Eben Upton, started developing the first single-board prototypes in the evenings and at weekends while working at Broadcom, inspired by the BBC Micro he had used to do his homework.
ZX Spectrum. We're bang up to date for the last mention. THE GUARDIAN's 2nd August 2024 print review of Thank Goodness You're Here. In a comment missing from the online version, 31st July 2024, THE GUARDIAN notes:
The Creators have namechecked Reeves and Mortimer and The Mighty Boosh as inspirations, but the puzzles will also remind ZX Spectrum veterans of the old Dizzy games from Codemasters.
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