BBC Micro - Did The UK Get Computer Literate in the '80s? - Trash to Treasure (Pt3)

[@didierdubos]

Hi, I'm french and 52 years old. I bought the BBC B micro when I was 16. I bought it in Paris in a shop called 'ILLEL'. (I started with a Zx81 then a TI99 then the BBC). It is because of this machine that I made carreer in computing and electronics. I still have this BBC micro (waiting for a repair!) standing at home.

[@ixion8666]

Didier Dubos c’est quoi le problème sur ton BBC ? Cela reste des machines réparables facilement .

[@simonzinc-trumpetharris852]

Mine still works!

[@B3tanTyronne]

The memory that always comes to my mind when I think of the Beeb is an old school friend at secondary school writing a basic programme that he had run before a class. It simply played the countdown theme and upon completion displayed the words `Spunk Splatz` and to the mind of a 15 yr old this of course made me laugh....I am 47 now yet that 15 yr old still resides within me and it still makes me laugh to this day.

[@AmbientMusicStudio]

In Canada we were still learning how to use rocks to sharpen other rocks.

[@RobSchofield]

The sheer affection you have for this computer comes through clearly in this series: well made, written and presented. Bravo!

[@PaulSteel-Credonos]

Like many, the bbc micro and Elite inspired me and now I’m heading up a global technology team. Thank you for this series. I’ve just ordered a refurbished bbc micro b from eBay and I’ll be re-learning assembly language when it arrives

[@ColinBowen]

This is a series of videos that even the great British Broadcasting Corporation would have been proud to have made. Excellent series, on an excellent product. I might finally get my original Beeb out of the cupboard and fixed up.

[@ojkolsrud1]

The color scheme on these machines is so visually pleasing! I love the black keys with the red keys at the top.

[@005AGIMA]

Love the blend of restoration and history in this series Neil. Really really well done. My BBC micro memories are more from secondary School but I love hearing your own stories.

[@gamingtherapy7587]

Watched all 3 parts and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. Thank you

[@VW_Fan]

I remember using a BBC Micro at primary school in the 90's. We used to play something called Pod. We used to make it sing, whilst, run explode etc. Does anyone else remember it?

[@Starchface]

Thank you for another incredible addition to this series, Neil. My usual interest runs to the hardware side of things, the repair and restoration of the glorious old micros. This episode, I felt, would be an afterthought to the real meat of the series. I could not have been more mistaken. The writing, the research, the production quality-everything about this installment is of the highest order. It's as good as any television documentary. You've almost brought a tear to this old man's eye, and I'm not even British. How you were able to dig up all this history and archival footage and assemble them into a coherent story is beyond me. Your work has been stunning for as long as I can remember, but here you have taken it to new heights. Clearly you have found your calling. Yes, you preserve hardware, but you're also preserving a unique moment in history that will never be repeated. Thanks for the memories.

[@fueledbyregret]

Wonderful video! I started school in 1990 we had a BBC Micro in each classroom. One of the form rooms had several BBC Master Compact systems with printers and a LOGO turtle. All the BBC systems throughout the school were linked with the Acorn teletext system which showed school events, and simple facts of the day etc.

[@fueledbyregret]

When I moved to middle school we had Acorn A3000s everywhere. The IT rooms had rows of A4000s. High school was a mix of RM windows PCs and Acorn RISC PCs.

[@ColinHoad]

My favourite in this series so far! Great blend of history and information, plus the memories - yours and your followers - were lovely to hear. I also owe my career to the BBC Micro - and my Dad who was the IT teacher at my school, meaning I got to play around with Acorn machines at home as well as in the classroom!

[@808v1]

This was a wonderfully made docu-episode. These type of creations (on KZbin etc.) have truly improved and replaced the traditional consumption via broadcast television. I love it :)

[@808v1]

Interestingly, to me your episode is reminiscent of the old BBC programmes that you covered in the video

[@mapesdhs597]

@@808v1 I stopped watching lamestream media in 2016 precisely because people like RMC do so much better. 8)

[@InspireVolunteering]

excellent video series. I first used a beeb in jan 83 at primary school. total game changer. I failed exams playing Elite too much

[@stevecharlton3271]

Absolutely brilliant

[@AnaloguePhoto]

This episode was absolutely amazing to watch. In Sweden we had half a page on Sundays (Sydsvenskan) newspaper with Basic programming tips and printed code. Nothing like this. Just the follow through of the BBC's efforts impresses me. That's a genuine good use of public service media. A lot better than what it's used for today.

[@mharding1258]

Thank you pal. Your series has stirred up so many memories in my mind and reminded me just where my love of computing and electronics is based. I have a lot to thank Acorn Computers for and I have always loved and cherished this historical story. I have my career in IT thanks to a wonderful start in life on these now humble beasts of the past.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

19:48 Never saw that series here in NZ, but I recognize a certain face from _Auf Wiedersehen, Pet_ ...

[@WoodyPianoShack]

an honour to be on such a great show!

[@MorebitsUK]

I had a BBC Master from 1987 to 1990, and I absolutely loved it. Playing games like Repton 3 and Ravenskull. I also learned to program BBC Basic on it, which seeded my love of programming and ofc Computers.

[@Capt.Marco-Hawk-L.L.A.P]

The BBC model B was my 2nd computer and was were my love for computers came from, I use to dream of a BBC Master

[@dj_paultuk7052]

Good memories indeed. My secondary school started off with 5 BBC B's. And eventually ended up with 10 B's. and 5 Master 128k's. The computer teacher used to let me in the room at lunchtimes, and after a short while i helped to kick off the "Lunchtime Computer club". And not long after that a after school club as well. Loved the BBC Micro, and for home i had a "Electron", as did many pupils. The programs we wrote at school , we could continue at home. As long as we saved them to tape. **Still have a B now ;-)

[@daveharris3384]

Sorry just watched this old video from 2020, amazed to see a Walters Computer Systems BBC Micro at 07:37. I worked for walters in the 80's in the service department, mainly on Acorn systems, Many happy memories come flooding back. My own BBC does not have the Walters sticker on it. Many thanks, keep up the good work. Dave

[@aeiouxs]

Hear hear Neil, totally agree with your viewpoint on the Beeb and its relatively unsung impact through our schools which normalise computing -- curious where the UK would be now without this programme. And thanks for another superb video - really it feels like you're pretty much producing whole TV programs now, amazing work. fwiw I'm pretty sure we're identical ages and wanted to share a short bit of my own background story: one night I was sneakily playing Elite in my bedroom on our family Acorn Electron, and my Grandma suddenly appears. "Switch that off dear, nothing good will come of that".... I've been in the Games Industry for well over 25 years now, had the pleasure of meeting David Braben briefly at a Games Company dinner, and this industry has taken me around the world and I'm still paying the rent with skills (and inspiration borne from) those BBC-B's in Cheshire schools back in the early '80s. Thanks again.

[@WiggysanWiggysan]

I loved our BBC Micro. This video has really got the memories flowing again ! Yes, I'm sure my school had the turtle pen robot. We used to use on the gym floor because it was the biggest flat room that did not have bumpy carpets ! Thanks for all your effort in these videos *RMC* . Great work.

[@discovermetaldetecting]

Another fantastic video Neil. As a wide eyed 13 year old in 1982, I remember cutting out computer listings from magazines, walking to my local supermarket and typing them into the computers they had display! As a one parent family, mum couldn’t afford a BBC so I would pester my posh friends who had them! I settled for an Electron when their price dropped! That started my fascination with coding! Great stuff mate! 👍🏻

[@tmacmc2984]

Mrs McCluskey lol. Brilliant stuff as usual RMC.

[@Lopson13]

Stellar episode, you're one of the best on here. Congratulations!

[@electricturbodata9368]

Thanks for bringing up the important questions at 28:47 but a little disheartening that it didn't spark any discussion here, so I'll start then. Yes, we should collectively benefit by automation, by getting more freedom, i.e. more TIME for nice things like family, friends, other people i.e. new friends and ourselves (i.e. for retro computing projects :D ). We don't need more crappy new stuff all the time, we already have our old computers. Data collection has obviously gone way over the top a long time ago. Can free will and free thought survive? Anyway, great and interesting series! I didn't know much about the BBC micro before this. Thanks for making these high quality computer history videos.

[@rabidy]

Been looking forward to the continuation of this series. Really enjoying it so far.

[@broonage]

I'm a little younger (i was born the year it came out) but remember the BBC at primary school with fond memories and we had the turtle too. It was this machine that got me interested in computing and eventually getting my C64 for home pottering (more affordable), and in the long run - eventually working in software.

[@kcharles8857]

Admittedly I don't have much of a life but I could watch this stuff for hours!

[@RMCRetro]

Hey what does that say about me! 😁😁

[@alexandrecouture2462]

I always like to paint my old computers! Xt, 286, 386. Great video!

[@JohnJones-jv3hr]

This series has brought back many fond memories of my first encounter with a computer. Granny's Garden on the BBC was something we were all addicted to as young kids. I would love to see a follow-up series on the machine that took over from the BBC in many schools, the RM NIMBUS.

[@frazzleface753]

Same here. Granny's Garden was my first contact with a computer - 1984 at primary school. It was magical and very exciting as a 7 year old :)

[@JohnJones-jv3hr]

@@frazzleface753 Were you one of the kids that cheated by looking up the level passwords in the teacher's handbook? I know I was!

[@frazzleface753]

@@JohnJones-jv3hr Haha, come to mention it, I do vaguely remember something like that happening! Whether it was me or not, I couldn't possibly comment...

[@erlichbachman3330]

Great content as always, real BBC quality!

[@star_man]

Awww you got Ian McNaught-Davis into it (well how could you not). Not too proud to admit this 48 year old welled up a bit when he popped up at the beginning. What a wonderful video, well done Neil. My first exposure to the BBC was LOGO and the LOGO Turtle in middle school (anyone outside of East Anglia might have to look up what “middle school” was). I was hooked on all the BBC “Micro” programmes, and undoubtedly my love of computers was first ignited by them. There’s something almost poetically beautiful seeing you in front of a green screen with an image of Ian McNaught-Davies behind you who was also talking in front of a green screen, it was as if it was the handing over of the baton from one generation to the next.

[@oxogood9018]

Our primary school had a bbc micro,on a trolly,from classroom to class room,then high school we went,RM Nimbus.but we did have at least one each,once a week ,Tuesdays if i recall.1pm till 2pm.

[@richardisaacs567]

Quality content as always mate, well done.

[@chriswatson2407]

Bloody bloody brilliant. Couldn't believe it when you said there is a further episode!

[@RMCRetro]

Thanks Chris. An interview Steve Furber is now showing to Patrons and goes public on Monday and then in a couple of weeks we'll round it off by just using the system really. We haven't seen enough of it in action.

[@hjalfi]

My father was a teacher and was involved in his school's computer 'department' (really a bunch of interested teachers), so we always had a 'borrowed' BBC Micro at home during the holidays. I wasn't allowed to play games --- so I had to write them myself... eventually I ended up using half the storage of the very expensive 20MB Winchester Econet file server myself, before it was struck by lightning.

[@hjalfi]

BTW, when I was 15 I sent a game in to a computer magazine. It got rejected, but a while back I found the disk, ripped it, and did a writeup: cowlark.com/2015-02-03-bbc-micro And more recently I wrote what's possibly the fastest Mandelbrot program for the BBC Micro ever: cowlark.com/2018-05-26-bogomandel

[@fredjones100]

@@hjalfi Nice job on the sound in your Tron clone! I think "excruciatingly bad" is a bit harsh myself....

[@russellhale7694]

Thanks for the memories - from that very first Beeb being installed in the class room at primary school to then having rooms of them at senior school, saving up and buying my own Spectrum at home to then upgrading to an Atari ST. Studying Computing at college and working in the industry for 28 years. The BBC Computer Literacy Program has a lot to answer for!!!! - I am glad it happened to my generation!

[@ayjay749]

In my Primary School, 4th year Juniors got to use the sole BBC Micro (and play Granny's Garden). In a previous year group, we got no further than an A4 printout of a keyboard layout to "practise typing"!

[@Rockythefishman]

one of your best Neil, damm this was good. I am from the same era as you I remember these and using them in class after class.

[@meetoo594]

I remember building a lightpen from scratch at school, plugging it into a BBC and then writing the software to drive it. Such a versitile machine for school projects like this. Used email for the first time at school on a BBC, it was connected to the JANET network via an acoustic coupler and I recall not sharing the teachers excitement at getting a reply from some teacher in a Yorkshire school to the email he sent 2 days previous. My young self had no idea I was witnessing the early days of the I.T. revolution in the UK. I also wrote an article describing living in the local area that got put on the BBC domesday project laserdisk system that the school participated in. I think someone broke our schools domesday system shortly after it arrived so I never got to use it. The trouble with schools using the BBC micro was when you left school you found out the hard way that no one actually used BBC machines in the workplace and apart from the electronics experiments pretty much everything you learnt on them was useless as most business used pc`s or macs.

[@cashawX10]

"Geordie Racer - Look n' Read' Who on Earth ever thought the best way to teach kids English was via Geordie ??

[@geordiebatt]

Gods own dialect!

[@cashawX10]

@@geordiebatt Nah lad ! Tha shud spek Yorkshire and nowt else ! ;-)

[@Armand79th]

Well, they had to lower the bar for the thickies Oop Norf.

[@jamesgrimwood1285]

@@cashawX10 I think hearing Geordie counted as learning a foreign language back in the 80s.

[@johnnyutah892]

Clive Shaw Dark Towers was my favourite.

[@MrBrianms]

I did my first computing course on the BBC model B with painting and decoration course thrown in. I learned programming by making an estimation program. The program asked for simple measurements of a room and output the quantity of paint needed. Now the paint can be ordered online by the use of a phone.

[@Johnnyafc]

This is a brilliant series really enjoying it

[@jameslewis2635]

Nice job on getting the painting of the cases sorted. The 'green tint from certain angles' sounds to me like it could be down to the light refracting through the clear-coat. Knowing how to get the 'Amiga cream' colour could be usefull as well since painting is probably a bit easier to do than retro-brightening with UK levels of sunlight and warmth.

[@GadgetUK164]

Wonderful video - great to see the people at the end there!

[@tvandbeermakehomergo]

Can still remember these machines well from Primary school, they were still using them up to the early 2000's!

[@thegreatjonzini]

Bravo! 👏Amazing video! Wonderfully produced.

[@grabham59]

Brilliant episode! Like you, my first experience of computing was with a BBC at Primary School. One thing to note was just how bloody robust these machines were - which lead to them getting used in some pretty harsh environments. As an example - an Internal Drainage Board I collaborated with were still using them to run some pumping stations in 2006!! They were never switched off so just kept doing the job!

[@BenRattigan]

Excellent episode

[@bazza5699]

great episode this.. i loved hearing the personal memories at the end as they reminded me so much of my own school days.. great job neil.. i'm not embarrassed to say i have a little tear in my eye.. great days

[@timmatthews773]

Great video - thanks so much. Really loved this series, and am looking forward to one my heroes Prof Furber soon! Enjoyed the voxes too, like a few of them my computer studies project was a BBC Micro job (and is still available to download for those adventure gamers!) but can definitely relate to Woody's mischief!! hehe. In my case belated apologies to Mrs Muir... :-/

[@Tim_3100]

Watched micromen again the other day its still a great program and the extreme response sinclair gave when sinclair was not selected for the BBC project is something to see even now.

[@muke001]

I'm a bit too young (and American) to have been a part of this literacy project, but I remember our older math books (circa late 80's) would always have basic programs written out at the end of every section to type out and now I finally know why; the influence had traveled across the pond!

[@JonPadfield]

Do you know what. I'm going for a second comment to thank you for the thoroughly pleasant trip down memory lane I just had :)

[@RMCRetro]

You're most welcome Jonathan

[@StreborKram]

Funny how the 4 year old video feels so retro. Love it. Love the less than perfect recording, the dreamy soundscape and the simple set. Should I be afraid of AI? A classic already.

[@kins749]

I remember the magic of first seeing one - there was only one - in my middle school around 1983, one of the teachers had squirreled it away in her office and all we could do was look at it in wonder.

[@stephenhargreaves9011]

I love the "Live washing up" idea. Perhaps I should stream myself doing the dishes. :) And how prophetic the worry of people "gazing like zombies at the screen" was, when you observe people of all classes and all ages doing exactly that whilst wandering around busy city centres. As a self-confessed (and proud) geek, I sometimes hate the age of mobile computing. And final edit, but thanks. You've caused me to spend two hours of a Saturday morning watching those programmes of a bygone age, that I weirdly did not see first time around, despite having been a teenager, in the UK, and owning a super powerful ZX81 at the time.

[@mapesdhs597]

Re zombies, I took this pic in a train station (note the child being completely ignored, it fretted constantly): www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/P1140938s.jpg

[@snoballuk]

Even back in 1988, our school Beebs had that case yellowing - many even more so than the unpainted case in this video - so I consider it to be part of the general look of the BBC Micro.

[@daveb1930]

Having a Beeb at home was a great advantage for school. We had a subscription for The Micro User, but we didn't get the accompanying disc at first, so I (with much supervision from Father) had to type in the code from the magazine to be able to play the games. This taught me just enough to wreak havoc during my school sessions on the machine...

[@永Tom]

TV quality programme here. Great piece of content!

[@sq1rlsqu4d]

Part three and Chuckie Egg hasn't been mentioned yet? 8-o

[@Rouxenator]

I'm glad I had that school experience of wooden desks and pipe smoking teachers well into the late 90s. Logo I met in primary school, in high school we did have internet on 486 machines. I remember the computer science teacher telling us we are connected to the university via "fibre" cutting edge stuff for '99.

[@NigelDraycott]

Wow that paint job is fantastic

[@cashawX10]

Great video ! You forget to mention the BBC Micro's influence in industry. In the 80's I remember walking round my Dad's work and seeing the Beeb controlling milling machines and lathes. We visited Jodrell Bank Observatory and the Beeb was controlling all their telescopes. Also mid-80's BBC TV would also find them supplying on-screen graphics for game shows. Don't forget the pre-broom cupboard Childrens BBC relied heavily on the Beeb's graphics to provide the animations between programmes. In the UK at the time the BBC Microcomputer was everywhere :-)

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

The view of a UK classroom in the 80's sounds very different from where it was for us US kids, where most school desks didn't have inkwells placed in them and public school kids weren't taught by nuns (they were for schools run by the local Catholic Diocese). Wheeling the TV into the classroom was a thing for us too, alongside film projectors and earlier VCR's (often the 3/4" U-matic format but also VHS). The Apple II was the computer of choice for most schools I knew.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@another3997 Thanks for the clarification.

[@mapesdhs597]

@@ChristopherSobieniak Also worth noting that a great many (including myself) attended Church of England schools, but the presence of the Church within the classroom was very minimal, not much more than morning assembly and the special times of year. One thing though, such schools have I think remained well above the general state sector in their quality; today, the CofE primary school I attended has a most impressive curriculum with regard to the sciences: langleyfitzurse.wilts.sch.uk/ Re the old desks, I suspect in many cases it was not replacement cost that kept them around for so long, rather that such desks were incredibly robustly made and withstood the ravages of decades of use by children. :D If it ain't broke... I remember at a later school I attended the desks were like units which could take a tank shell with ease. But yeah, I never saw a school were nuns did the teaching, that's pretty unsual, presumably a more traditional Catholic school or somesuch.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

As well as high school as I mentioned on one of the other videos, I'm pretty sure it was a BBC that we had in middle school as well, this was about 1984-6. St Joseph's middle school in Hanwell, London. We had one in the class room that was rarely used. But when it was, there was one kid, I annoyingly can't remember his name, who was the whiz on it. I believe he had one at home so knew everything about it and how to set it up etc. So whenever it was time for the teacher to use it with us, he would always be asked to help them as he knew more than them.

[@Beaps73]

Wow what an awesome video, I really enjoyed that. The TV on a trolley haha, the BBC came into my primary school and lived in the library. I dont remember much learning on it but I do remember Rally X haha

[@azzajohnson2123]

The first 20 seconds made me laugh. “More time for leisure” as an office cube convict I find this so funny.

[@jimmcconville]

Testify! 😂

[@foreverhungry84]

i was at school from the late 80s and we had one of these on a trolley which was ceremoniously wheeled out on a friday. there was 2 learning games on massive floppy discs. it fired my interest in computers. later moving onto an Archimedes in the 90s. fond memories.

[@stephenhargreaves9011]

Not an EDIT, so I'm allowed this. In 1982 the National Computing Centre (NCC) sponsored students with an aptitude to attend college for accelerated courses. I passed the requisite tests, and did an ONC in computer studies (usually a 2 year course) in 46 weeks, which included 2 weeks industrial placement at Initial Services in Manchester, operating the main frame, and 6 weeks at British Aerospace programming. As my time at BA came to an end, the operations and programming managers both wanted me to stay on, but this was blocked by HR at the time. This is probably why I'm now a specialist tax accountant. In 1999, I was working for HMRC. Having been trained in COBOL, and with the Y2K paranoia, how I wish I'd quit my job to go freelance fixing computers. Apparently, for programmers, £500 per hour was not unheard of.

[@th3d3wd3r]

Pardon my language but fuuuuckin' hell, geordie racer man! I'm from newcastle, about the same age as you, and we watched it in school. Absolute flashback there hahaa. I remember they had a pigeon handler brought a pigeon in for us to see, it got away and shit all over the place. We also had the logo turtle. I found it boxed in the cupboard. I was the only kid in school interested in playing with it.

[@th3d3wd3r]

I assume we're about the same age anyway, going by the amount of grey in your beard ;) hahaa.

[@tuopeeks]

As spray painting maybe a conductive coating added to inside of the covers could be made to cut down the RF noise.

[@queegfivehundred8197]

It's really interesting to contrast Neil's classroom computer experience with mine in Australia... in the late 80s my primary school had a room of Commodore 64s we went to from time to time (and I distinctly remember using logo as well as being shown an acoustic coupler modem) but the only time there was a computer in our regular classroom was when my year 4 teacher brought in her own C64 and an old black and white TV, which I was responsible for setting up and often got to use when my normal classwork was done. At the same time the local high school had a row of Mac Plus machines for each subschool (so probably 15 computers for 300 or so students in a common area) in addition to a dedicated room of PCs for computing (and typing) classes, which were still there until the mid 90s. I can't recall any instances where using a computer was integrated into other lessons. Before the high school got the macs, they had BBC Micros although I don't know how many or how they were distributed - I only got to use one for one school holiday period and had fun playing an Oregon Trail type game based around the 1850s Victorian gold rush.

[@garrys9336]

Hi Neil. I found your experiences of using the BBC Micro at school in the 80s interesting as they sound vastly different to mine. I started primary school in 1988 and we had two BBC Micros. It seems that by that time, the BBC literacy programme had faded into memory as none of the teachers appeared to know how to use the Micros at all, so they sat unused for almost my entire seven years. We did have one 'lesson' on them in 1989/1990 using the turtle to draw patterns as shown in your video. Aside from that one lesson, they were never, ever used and certainly not incorporated into other lessons. And you pointed out in your video, it seems that schools and industry failed to capitalise on the momentum of the BBC schools project. One of my friend's parents occasionally helped out in the school and he was reasonably computer literate. I remember he showed us how to load a text-adventure game which I vaguely remember had something to do with castles and dragons. My primary school eventually replaced the Micros with DOS-based IBM-PCs around 1993/94 but, once again, the school had no staff who know how to use them and they too sat and gathered dust. It wasn't until 1996, now in secondary school, that I began to get proper computing tuition. Throughout all of this, my family owned ZX Spectrums and Amigas at home. My dad originally purchased them as games machines but eventually I learned how to use them for other things, such as BASIC programming, desktop publishing, art and more. I now have a successful career in IT which is much more due to the resource I had at home rather than anything I was taught in schools. I wonder if my experiences are typical for somebody of my age or whether my primary school was simply particularly bad at embracing the IT resources which were available to it.

[@Maxibon2007]

My comprehensive school had a whole room of BBC Micro’s well into the mid/late 1990s alongside the Acorn Archimedes for our IT (C.L.A.I.T.) lessons, but sadly by 1995 even our IT teachers were denouncing them as a technological dead-end “forced” on us by Government schemes and “we” needed Microsoft based PCs

[@mitchyk]

Love this series! i remember my mate used to record the computer show on his betamax video recorder for the programs they would play at the end which then he recorded onto audio tape to load on his BBC Micro. At the time we thought this was amazing. How times change! Now i could download the entire collection of every BBC software ever made in about a minute!

[@JesusisJesus]

In Australia, we had a similar computer called MicroBee. It ran cpm and on a token ring network we “all” shared the disk drive on the orange screened “server” using our green screen terminals. This was my introduction to a DOS in 86 aged 9. Kids these days have it good, using a “computer” to program a much smaller one, emulate older ones. Carrying a computer in their pocket.

[@pitmatix1457]

I was luckily enough to have a BBC Micro at home. Wonderful machine and, although it didn't have a games range to compare the likes of the Speccy, it had some fantastic, and often unique to the system, titles. As mentioned by one of the commentators at the end of the video it has some of the best arcade conversions. Out of all the 8-bit systems I have seen the BBC had some graphics mode that were closest to the raster style graphics of the early coin ops (the dude was right about Planetoid, especially). I get especially nostalgic when I see your INPUT folder on the back shelf, we had a subscription to that too and it was a great read with fascinating type ins (that my dad would spend hours typing in and then again the next issue when the corrections appeared!) and some great art (I still remember this amazing piece of art of a badass looking cyborg Elephant even now!).

[@frostwise87]

brilliant vid. your videos are getting very very good both in writing and production :)

[@thomsi67]

My very first computer I ever bought was the BBC Master. I started work and within 2 months went to my local computer shop, Micro Man and bought the Master with a Cumana 40/80 track floppy drive, tape player all for the princely sum of £800+ on credit that my dad had to go guarantor for. I still have the Master stored away and will be hopefully restoring it this year.

[@rwdplz1]

A computer literacy program was an absolutely brilliant idea. In the US, it's easy to forget now, but most people didn't have a home computer until the late 90's or even the early 2000's. I went to schools that in the early 90's had one Apple II computer, to 30 Macintosh computers in a 'computer lab' in the mid 90's, to a group of donated 286's in the late 90's in high school for certain classes.

[@xav500011]

I have a BBC Model B. I sprayed the case black but it looks messy close up. I might try and strip the paint off and try and retrobrite it.

[@RockRedGenesis]

Mostly what I remember of the good old BBC Micro is sneaking in a game or two of Chuckie Egg on the Micro at Primary School during break-times. And occasionally doing school work on it! Good times!

[@39Kohm]

I love the BBC micro, I grew up with them too, I remember having one. I can recall writing a program to click the tape relay to make it sound like (to me at least at the time) that is had a hard disk seeking. One day I'll venture back to the UK and bring one over here.

[@RandomMusingsUK]

As an alternative to both painting or retrobrite, hair peroxide gel combined with sunlight for a few hours works very well in removing the yellowing caused by the fire resistant bromide in the plastic.

[@Tocsin-Bang]

I remember loading up a whole load of BBC micros, monitors hdds etc into a van to be sent to schools in Africa, when the school I was working in found them in a storeroom long after they had changed to pcs.

[@kuro68000]

Fond memories of the TV being wheeled out for Geordie Racer!

[@mapesdhs597]

IT in my school was a mess (the head hated computers), but the TV got rolled out for English classes; we watched Polanski's Macbeth before diving into Shakespeare. :D

[@DeLorean4]

My primary school in France still had a few BBC Micros for 3rd grade students into 1999 (give or take a year to both those numbers).

[@gdogg3710]

“Zombies staring at screens”...ironic that a descendant of the Micro wound up supplying the chipset for today’s smartphones...

[@iwanttocomplain]

ARM is a cpu core not a chipset.

[@bentoth9555]

20:06 is that the actor who played Robbie Lewis in the detective shows on the BBC?

[@karlgoldsmith8047]

I skived swimming to spend the time in the computer room in last year of high school.

[@RMCRetro]

Our school swimming pool was outdoors, and so was the changing room. It was so cold in winter!!!

[@markloughtonUK]

I remember using beige spray paint from Halfords that was for a Rover 200 series as it was a good match when we made some metal surrounds for the BBC back in the 80s :)

[@spankysmp]

Top stuff as per usual. I was never keen on Ian McNaught-Davis. He was on a programme about computers but didn't have a beard , ergo he knew nothing about them. Might dig out the beeb tomorrow and see what's working and not working.

[@SparkyMAWy]

It took me a long while to get my own BBC B and Master. But, I've always had a soft spot for these machines. Like a lot of people, the Beeb (and in my case the Amstrad CPC464 inherited from my late grandad) aided my career in to IT witchcraft.

[@raelik777]

Have you ever thought of trying the "solar" method of retrobrite-ing (as seen on Perifractic's channel)? Basically, you leave it in the direct sunlight for days at a time. I realize, being in England, that sunny days may be hard to come by, but they don't need to be consecutive days, you would just want to keep it out of indirect sunglight or florescent light in between sun exposure days. You'd also want to mask off the black parts to prevent fading or sun damage to the thin plastic there.