Backroom Boys

by Francis Spufford

  routes 1, 2

  a commercial flop 1

  exclusivity 1

  agreement with the government 1

  pilots 1

  cabin 1

  fares 1, 2

  support costs 1

  immunity from metal fatigue 1

  BA takes over the fleet 1

  daily run to New York 1

  Review Group 1, 2

  Concorde Management Board 1

  Conférence Européenne des Administrations des Postes et Télécommunications 1

  Conservatism 1

  Conservative Party 1

  Corfield, Frederick 1, 2

  Coulson, Alan 1, 2

  Creatures game 1

  Crick, Francis 1, 2, 3

  cytosine (C) 1, 2

  Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace 1

  Dallas (television programme) 1

  ‘Dan Dare’ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  dance culture 1

  Darwin, Charles 1

  data compression 1

  Dawkins, Richard 1

  De Gaulle, Charles 1, 2

  De Havilland, Sir Geoffrey 1

  De Havilland aircraft company 1, 2

  Defender game 1, 2

  Denmark: mobile phone use 1

  Department of Energy 1

  Department of Industry 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Department of the Environment 1

  Department of Trade 1

  Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 1, 2, 3, 4

  diffraction 1

  digital cellular systems 1

  DNA (dioxyribonucleic acid) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 discovery of 1, 2

  DNA polymerase 1

  Dommett, Roy 1, 2, 3

  Doom game 1

  double helix 1, 2, 3, 4

  Dresden 1

  Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game 1

  Durbin, Richard 1, 2

  e-mail 1

  Eagle comic 1

  Eagle pub, Benet Street, Cambridge 1

  Eastgate Tavern, Oxford 1

  Eden Project, Cornwall 1

  Eidos 1

  Elite game 1, 2, 3 wish list 1

  introduction of the time dimension 1

  money economy 1

  aims at a plausible universe 1

  new architecture for a video game 1

  complexity 1, 2

  rejected by Thorn-EMI 1

  real-time 3D graphics 1

  uncertainties for Acornsoft 1

  game development 1, 2

  promotion 1

  choice of name 1

  packaging 1

  reviews 1

  total sales 1

  auction won by BTSoft 1

  monthly draw for a silver badge 1

  EMI 1

  empirical models 1, 2

  English Electric 1

  Epping, Essex 1, 2, 3, 4

  Ericsson 1

  ESA see European Space Agency Europa launcher 1

  European Commission 1

  European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) 1

  European Space Agency (ESA) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Science Programme Committee 1

  Evans, Christopher: The Mighty Micro 1

  Executive Car Telephones 1

  Fairbanks, Alaska: satellite tracking station 1

  Fairey Delta 1

  Falklands War 1, 2

  Farnborough, Hampshire 1, 2

  fax machines 1

  Federal Express 1

  Ferranti 1, 2

  Festival of Britain (1951) 1

  Fibonacci sequences 1

  field radios 1

  Filton plant 1, 2

  Fiterman, Charles (French government minister) 1

  Florence 1

  Ford, Henry 1

  Formula One racing 1, 2

  France administrators of state corporations 1

  Concorde 1, 2

  OMEGA spectrometer 1, 2

  free-space field strength 1, 2

  Freefall game 1, 2, 3

  G5 (five biggest public laboratories) 1

  gaiatsu 1

  games industry 1

  Gamma engine 1, 2, 3, 4

  Gants’ Hill, London 1

  Garrard, Garry 1, 2, 3, 4

  Gates, Bill 1, 2

  GEC 1, 2, 3

  Gent, Chris 1

  Geographical Information Systems (GIS) 1

  Germany: rumours of big German rockets 1

  gift economy 1, 2, 3, 4

  Gill, Trevor 1

  Global Positioning System 1

  Goldman, William 1

  Goodson, A. 1

  Gotha raids 1

  Gould, Stephen Jay 1

  Grantchester 1

  graphical user interfaces 1

  Green Man pub, Grantchester 1

  GSM (Groupe Spéciale Mobile) 1, 2, 3

  guanine (G) 1, 2

  Guardian newspaper 1

  Guernica 1

  Guildford, Surrey 1

  Halliday, Professor Ian 1

  Hamilton Princess hotel, Bermuda 1

  Hanoi 1

  Hauser, Hermann 1, 2

  Hawker Siddeley 1

  Hawking, Stephen 1

  Health and Safety Executive 1

  Heath, Sir Edward 1, 2

  Heathrow airport, London 1, 2

  Hellas crater, Mars 1, 2

  Hellespontus mountains, Mars 1

  Hewlett Packard 1

  High Down test site, Isle of Wight 1, 2, 3, 4

  High Test Peroxide (HTP) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Hinxton 1, 2

  Hirst, Damien 1

  Holdstock, Robert: ‘Ryhope Wood’ fantasies 1, 2

  House of Commons 1, 2, 3 Select Committee on Science and Technology 1, 2, 3

  Select Committee on Trade and Industry 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Howe, Sir Geoffrey 1

  HTP see High Test Peroxide

  Human Genome Project 1 start of (1990) 1

  target date for finishing the genome 1

  MRC funding 1

  Wellcome Trust funding 1, 2, 3

  Watson tries to persuade Japanese to join 1

  Sanger Centre claims one third 1, 2

  Ventapiller v. Sanger Centre 1

  Hunkapiller, Mike 1, 2, 3, 4

  hydrogen peroxide 1, 2

  IBM PC 1

  Ibrahim, Dr M. F. 1

  ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) 1

  Industrial Revolution 1, 2

  Institute for Contemporary British History: witness seminar on Concorde 1, 2, 3, 4

  internet 1, 2

  Iran, Shah of (Muhammad Reza Pahlavi) 1

  Iran Air 1

  IRBMs (intermediate range ballistic missiles) 1

  Isidis, Mars 1, 2

  Isle of Wight 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Italy: mobile phone use 1

  James, Alex 1

  Japan cellular radio research 1

  gaiatsu 1

  genome research 1

  manufacturing 1

  Mars probes 1

  Jenkin, Patrick 1

  Jesus College, Cambridge 1, 2

  Johnson-Davies, David 1, 2, 3, 4

  Joint Genome Institute, Los Alamos 1

  Jones, Gwyneth 1

  Jordan, Chris 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  juste retour (‘fair return’) 1

  Kazakhstan 1

  King, Sir John 1, 2, 3

  Kubrick, Stanley 1

  Laboratory for Molecular Biology, Cambridge (LMB) 1, 2, 3

  Labour Party 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Lamont, Norman 1, 2, 3, 4

  Langley, Virginia 1

  Lansing, Michigan 1

  Lansing Cellular Telephone Inc. 1

  Larkin, Philip 1

  Lavochkin factory 1

  Legge-Bourke, Sir Harry, MP 1

  Leicester 1

  Leicester University 1

  Space Research Centre 1

  Lemmings game 1

  Leonardo da Vinci 1

  Lewis, C. S. 1 Reflections on the Psalms 1

  LH10 hydrogen-oxyg
en engine 1

  Lightning jet fighter 1

  Lockheed 1

  Logica 1 Space Division, Cobham 1

  London dinginess during the Second World War 1

  V2 attacks 1

  Gotha attacks 1

  Vodafone cellular network 1

  Vodafone shares floated 1

  Lowe, Captain Jock 1, 2

  Lowestoft, Suffolk 1

  Lyons, Joe 1

  M&C Saatchi Sponsorship 1, 2

  McDonald, Ian 1

  Mach 1 1, 2, 3

  Mach 2 1, 2

  Mach 3 1

  Macintosh (computer) 1

  Mack, Derek 1, 2, 3, 4

  McKnight, Steve 1

  McLaren 1

  McLeod, Ken 1

  Macmillan, Harold 1

  Macmillan government 1

  McNally, Thomas, MP 1

  MacTavish, Bruce 1, 2, 3

  Malaysian Rubber Producers’ Research Association (MRPRA) building, Wickendenbury 1, 2, 3, 4

  Manchester University: British Rockets Oral History Project 1

  Mars 1 and Beagle 2 lander 1, 2, 3

  atmosphere 1, 2, 3

  Mars 2 crashes 1

  wrecks on 1

  Viking missions 1, 2

  use of parachutes 1

  Pathfinder mission (1997) 1, 2, 3

  TV weather forecast 1

  Mars Polar Lander 1

  Mars 2 probe 1

  Mars 96 probe 1

  Mars Express 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Mars Global Surveyor 1

  Mars Polar Lander 1

  Marshall, Colin 1

  Martin-Baker Aircraft Company 1

  mass spectrometer 1

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1 Whitehead Institute 1

  Masts, Antennas, and Service Planning (Wiskin, Manton and Causebrook) 1

  Matra 1

  Matra Marconi Space 1, 2, 3

  Maxwell’s equations 1

  Medical Research Council 1, 2, 3, 4 Laboratory for Molecular Biology 1

  Merlin engine 1

  meteorite ALH 8400L 1

  meteorites 1

  meteorological rockets 1

  Metroliner express train 1

  ‘microcell’ 1

  Microsoft 1, 2

  Mild Seven Benetton Formula One team 1

  Millicom 1

  Milton Keynes 1, 2, 3, 4

  ‘minimum criticality’ 1

  Ministry of Aviation Supply 1

  Ministry of Defence (MOD) 1, 2, 3, 4

  Ministry of Supply 1

  Ministry of Technology 1

  Missile Command arcade game 1

  Mitchell, Reginald Joseph 1

  Mittelwerk factory 1

  Mitterand, François 1

  mobile phones 1 900 MHz frequency band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Bell Labs’ experiments 1

  Britain’s first public mobile telephone services 1

  start of Cellnet and Vodafone 1

  cellular network 1, 2, 3

  empirical models 1, 2

  physical models 1, 2, 3

  Okumura model 1

  maps 1

  first handsets (1984) 1

  first call on the Vodafone network 1

  Vodaphone’s first users 1

  initially only available in cars 1

  advantage over fax machines 1

  early use by small tradesmen 1

  great cultural effect 1

  salesmen 1

  subscribers 1, 2, 3

  UK a unique market for mobiles 1

  government injects more competition 1

  1,800 MHz frequency band 1

  from ‘business tool’ to ‘household luxury’ 1

  GSM 1

  diffraction of the signal 1

  loss of signal caused by ground cover 1

  impact on signal of buildings 1

  and relationships 1

  location changes its meaning 1

  mobile radio 1

  Moore’s Law 1

  Morgan, Michael 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  Morgan, Sir Morien 1

  Mostek 6502 processor chip 1, 2, 3

  Motorola ‘brick’ 1

  mouse genome, sequencing 1

  Mucky Foot 1

  Murdin, Dr Paul 1, 2, 3

  Myriad Genetics 1

  nanotechnology 1

  NASA 1, 2, 3, 4 invites Britain to launch scientic payloads free 1, 2, 3

  Mars missions 1, 2, 3, 4

  animation of Pathfinder’s descent 1

  National Centre for Human Genome Research 1

  National Institutes of Health (NIH) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 GenBank website 1

  National Plan (1965) 1

  NATO 1, 2

  Nature journal 1

  neutrinos 1

  New Frontiers 1

  New Labour 1

  New Lanark 1

  New York 1, 2

  New York Times 1, 2

  New Yorker, The 1, 2

  Newbury, Berkshire 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Newton, Sir Isaac 1 first law of motion 1

  NIH see National Institutes of Health

  999 calls 1

  Nintendo Entertainment System 1

  Niven, Larry: Neutron Star 1

  Nokia 1, 2, 3

  Official Secrets Act 1

  Okumura, Professor Y. 1, 2, 3

  Okumura model 1, 2, 3

  Olivetti 1

  Olympus engines 1, 2, 3, 4

  OMEGA spectrometer 1, 2

  One2One 1

  Open University 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Planetary Sciences Research Institute 1

  Operation Backfire 1

  ‘Operation Black Buck’ 1

  Orange 1, 2

  Orba dummy satellite 1, 2

  Ordnance Survey maps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Orwell, George: 1984 1

  Osborne House, Isle of Wight 1, 2

  Othello board game 1

  PA Consulting 1

  PACE: Prediction And Coverage Estimation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  PACE1, 2

  Pacman game 1

  Palmer, Arthur, MP 1

  Panasonic 1

  Paris 1

  Parsons, Professor J. D. 1

  Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, London (PPARC) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Pathfinder mission (1997) 1, 2, 3

  Patrinos, Ari 1

  PDP-1

  Peattie, Iain 1, 2

  Peenemünde 1

  Pentagon, Washington DC 1

  Perkin-Elmer Corporation 1, 2, 3

  Petrel meteorological rocket 1

  pharmaceutical companies 1

  physical models 1, 2

  Pilgrim’s Progress, The (Bunyan) 1

  Pillinger, Professor Colin 1, 2, 3

  Playstation games 1

  Plessey 1, 2, 3 HQ, Ilford 1

  Polaris missile 1, 2, 3

  Pollard Engineering 1

  Pong (the first arcade game) 1

  Populous game 1

  Porsche cars 1, 2

  Port Stanley, Falkland Islands 1, 2

  Post Office Tower, London 1

  Powell, Michael 1

  PPARC see Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, London Pratt & Whitney 1

  Preston, Richard 1, 2

  Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (1995) 1, 2

  Program Power software company 1

  Prospero satellite 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Proton booster 1

  Psygnosis 1

  Public Dividend Capital account 1

  Quake game 1

  Racal 1, 2, 3

  radar 1, 2, 3

  Radio Cambridgeshire 1

  radio planning 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Radio Shack 1

  RAF Fairford 1, 2, 3

  Rage 1

  RAM 1, 2

  Reading, Berkshire 1

  ribosome 1

  Rimbaud, Robin 1

  Ring, D. H. 1, 2, 3

  Rio de Janeiro 1

  RNA 1

  RNA
polymerase 1

  Rocket Propulsion Establishment, Westcott 1, 2

  ‘rocket science’ 1

  Rocketdyne 1

  rockets BIS plan 1

  American view (1944) 1

  rumours of big German rockets 1

  V2 1, 2

  Blue Streak 1, 2, 3

  solid fuel 1

  building a rocket engine 1

  Black Knight 1, 2, 3

  Black Arrow 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Rogers, Dr Jane 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Rolls-Royce 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  ROM chip 1, 2

  Romford, Essex 1

  Rover Group 1

  Royal Air Force (RAF) 1, 2, 3 V-bombers 1

  Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) 1, 2, 3 V2 examination 1, 2

  Guided Weapons Department 1

  Space Department 1

  Black Arrow launcher 1, 2

  Black Knight 1

  Royal Lancaster Hotel, London 1

  saggar-maker’s bottom-knockers 1

  Sainsbury, Lord 1

  St Albans, Hertfordshire 1

  St Katherine’s Dock, London 1

  St Louis, Missouri 1

  Sandys, Duncan 1

  Sanger, Fred 1, 2, 3

  Sanger Centre 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

  Saturn V 1, 2

  Saunders-Roe Ltd 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Scandinavia: mobile services 1

  ‘Scanner’ 1

  scanners 1, 2, 3

  science fiction (SF) 1, 2, 3, 4

  Science journal 1

  Science Museum, London 1, 2, 3

  Scott-Scott, John 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Scragg, Jim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  scramjets 1

  Sea of Tranquillity, the Moon 1

  Securicor 1

  sequencing process 1

  Serbia 1

  service providers 1

  Shelford 1

  signals intelligence (sigint) 1

  Silicon Valley 1

  Sinclair 1 2 ZX Spectrum 1, 2

  Skua meteorological rocket 1

  Skylark meteorological rocket 1

  Skylon 1

  Smiles, Samuel: Industrial Biography 1