Reminiscences

My first encounter with a computer was with the LEO on a school visit in 1961 to Cadby Hall, the headquarters of J Lyons and Co. It was amazing to see the rather noisy equipment occupying a large room. I think it was calculating a payroll and we were delighted to be given some samples of the output. The next day there was an emergency phone call to my headmistress. It appeared that the ‘samples’ were originals and needed to be returned immediately!

I learned to do simple programming at Brunel University in the mid-1960s while studying for a chemistry degree. We used punched (paper) tape for inputs to an IBM 360. If I wanted to delete a character I could use a hand punch. It all seemed quite tedious. Computers were still big machines run by professionals. After achieving a PhD, I took up a research post at ICI. This lasted until I moved to Paris with my husband Martin in 1978.

It was the late 1970s, when the first home computers appeared. We bought a home-build from a clever friend.  Martin was busy with diplomatic duties at the British Embassy. So I had the time to get to grips with programming. The 1KB memory of my computer was so low, that efficient coding was essential. I could get hold of programmes such as ‘space invaders’ published in specialist magazines, but they had to be carefully typed in. Data input used a small tape recorder, and the monitor was a converted TV.  A few years later we bought a Commodore 64.  This had sound and graphics chips – sophistication!

In 1982 I joined STC’s Optical Fibre Unit at Harlow. This was an exciting time. STC was a world leader in optical fibre technology and was busy manufacturing the early commercial fibre optic telephone links, being installed by BT in the UK. The major part of the first transatlantic optical cable system TAT-8 was manufactured by STC. In 1987 I moved to the Greenwich site and became Operations Manager responsible for the installation of subsea cables, including the first private transatlantic telecoms system, PTAT-1. I remember that the biggest problem was weather. We always planned to do cable lays in the summer, but the usual programme slippages would inevitably result in operations being carried out in the autumn or winter. It was very expensive to stop an operation (cut and run) and we tried to avoid this if at all possible. I remember one of my guys telling me he was still laying cable in a force 11 gale.

During 1994-5, I worked for a year on the government Technology Foresight programme tasked with advising on opportunities in markets and technologies likely to emerge over 10-20 years. As Technical Secretary, I looked after two very different panels: Communications and Construction.  Reports were issued in due course, but not without some arguments. Nearly 25 years on, it’s good to find that the Communications Panel did get quite a lot of things right in its predictions. Particularly about the importance of mobile communications.

In the 1990s, I decided it would be useful to get some proper training in computing and information technology, and I was awarded a PhD in 2000. In the meantime, I started to teach part-time at the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences (CMS) at Greenwich University. While at Greenwich, I pioneered and set up ‘Skills Week’, which trained CMS students in business, team work and communications skills.  I am currently a liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.

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