HARD DRIVE HEAVEN
Wednesday 28 September 2005 1.45am-2.45am (Tues night)
The unstoppable rise of the home computer, from the early days when PCs were the size of a room, to their current micro-accessibility.
TETRIS Tuesday 6 July
The Cold War tensions behind the game
ELECTRONIC BRAINS Radio 4
The remarkable stories of four computer pioneers
CONTRIBUTORS
Professor Hilary Kahn, University of Manchester
James Sumner, National Archive for the History of Computing, Manchester University
Dr Jon Agar, University of Cambridge
Seth Giddings - senior lecturer in Cultural Studies, University of the West of England
Dominik Diamond - columnist and broadcaster, presenter of Gamesmaster, Britain's first televised games show
Sir Clive Sinclair - inventor and creator of the first affordable home computer
Jeremy Ruston - software enthusiast, founder of Osmosoft
David Darling - chief executive, Codemasters
Kate Broome
Time Shift Series Editor
Today the computer pervades both the workplace and home. What started as the hobby of a group of enthusiasts - computer nerds - has ballooned into a billion-dollar business.
Time Shift charts the development of the PC from its precarious early days. The 1970s and 80s saw the explosion of the Sinclair, Spectrum, Apple Mac and Amstrad into the domestic market, while video games brought the arcade into the living room.
Sally Thomson's programme investigates how an alien and inaccessible machine has become part of the fabric of everyday life.
