A film has been released to mark the 70th anniversary of LEO (Lyons Electronic Office, pictured), the world’s first business computer.
It was made available on YouTube (www.snipca.com/40287) on 30 November, 70 years to the day that LEO ran its first program.
The computer, which had 5,000 valves, was built for the J Lyons teashop company, and was first used to calculate how much ingredients in bread and cakes would cost, before carrying out more administrative functions like processing payslips.
It took up 2,500 square feet of floor space at Lyons’ headquarters at Cadby Hall in Hammersmith, London. Versions of LEO were used right up until 1981, when the last Lyons teashop closed.
The 26-minute film was made by the LEO Computers Society (www.leo-computers.org.uk) and the Centre for Computing History…
