Computing Britain

Hannah Fry looks back at 75 years of computing history to reveal the UK's lead role in developing the technologies we rely on today

Radio 4,12 episodes

Episodes

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Electronic Brains
Hannah Fry travels back to the 1940s to hear the story of the creation of computer memory.
14 Sep 2015,15 mins
LEO the Electronic Office
The story of the chain of British teashops that created the first office computer.
15 Sep 2015,15 mins
ERNIE Picks Prizes
ERNIE, machine made by wartime code-breakers, becomes an unlikely celebrity.
16 Sep 2015,15 mins
Connected Thinking
The story of packet switching, how computers learned to talk to each other.
17 Sep 2015,15 mins
The Job Killer
Hannah Fry explores the pervasive fear that the computer would lead to mass unemployment.
18 Sep 2015,15 mins
Computers in Class
Hannah Fry describes some 1980s efforts to inspire Britain to embrace computing.
21 Sep 2015,15 mins
Computers at Home
How 1980s Britain grew to love the home computer. Presented by mathematician Hannah Fry.
22 Sep 2015,15 mins
UK Gaming
Teens write computer games in their bedrooms, and a billion-dollar business is created.
23 Sep 2015,15 mins
Dotcom Bubble
Hannah Fry traces the dot com boom and bust in Britain between 1999 and March 2000.
24 Sep 2015,15 mins
Mobile Revolution
Hannah Fry explores how a British company shrunk chips and made the mobile revolution.
25 Sep 2015,15 mins
Omnibus: 1940s to 1970s
Hannah Fry looks back at the UK's rich history of computing innovation.
10 Mar 2017,58 mins
Omnibus: 1980s onwards
From the ZX Spectrum to the dot com bubble, Hannah Fry looks at our computing history.
17 Mar 2017,58 mins