Backroom Boys

by Francis Spufford

  Smith, Adam 1 The Wealth of Nations 1

  SNECMA 1

  software 1, 2

  Sojourner six-wheeled rover 1

  Soviet Union puts Sputnik in orbit 1

  Tupolev-1 (‘Concordski’) 2

  spysat pictures 1

  Mars missions 1

  Soyuz rocket 1

  Space Age roots of 1, 2

  the final phase of the Age of Industry 1

  its capital 1

  Space Invaders game 1, 2, 3

  Space Opera game 1

  Space Raiders game 1

  Space War 1

  Spadeadam, Cumbria 1

  Speedbird House (BA headquarters) 1, 2

  spherical diffraction 1

  Spitfire 1, 2, 3, 4

  Sproat, Iain 1, 2

  Sputnik 1

  spy satellites 1

  SR-71 Blackbird spy plane 1

  Star Trek series 1, 2

  Star Wars (film) 1, 2, 3

  Steele, Professor R. 1

  Stentor engine 1, 2

  Stevenage 1

  Stonechat meteorological rocket 1

  Stuka raids 1

  Sulston, John 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

  Sunday Times 1

  Supersonic Transport 1

  Surface Science Package, Cassini-Huygens mission 1

  Sweden: ASPERA sensor 1, 2

  TACS (Total Access Communications System) 1

  Targett, Dave 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  TASS 1

  Tate Modern, London 1

  Tatung Einstein 1

  taxi radio 1

  Tebbit, Norman, later Lord 1

  TFT role-playing game 1

  Tharsis, Mars 1

  Tharsis Bulge, Mars 1

  Thatcher, Margaret, Baroness 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Thatcherism 1, 2

  The Institute of Genome Research (TIGR) 1, 2

  Theme Park game 1

  Thor-Delta rocket system 1

  Thorn-EMI 1, 2, 3, 4

  Thorneycroft, Peter, Baron 1

  Thorpe Park, Chertsey, Surrey 1, 2

  Thrust arcade-game adaptation 1

  thymine (T) 1, 2

  TIGR see The Institute of Genome Research Titan 1, 2

  Tolkien, J. R. R. 1, 2 Lord of the Rings 1

  Tomb Raider game 1

  Toulouse 1, 2

  transceivers 1

  transmitter 1, 2, 3

  Traveller game 1

  Treasury 1, 2

  TRS-1 2, 3

  Trubshaw, Brian 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

  Truman administration 1

  Tupolev-144 (‘Concordski’) 1

  TV broadcasting 1

  2001: A Space Odyssey (film) 1, 2

  United Airlines Red Carpet Club 1, 2

  United Kingdom a unique market for mobiles 1

  see also Britain

  United States Wernher von Braun surrenders to 1

  aerospace contractors 1

  engineering graduates control mass production 1, 2

  moon project 1

  Supersonic Transport 1

  investment finance 1

  mobile-phone licensing 1

  University of Surrey 1

  University of Texas 1

  University of Washington, St Louis 1, 2

  unmanned science missions 1

  Unreal game 1

  US Army 1

  US Congress 1, 2

  US Department of Energy 1

  Utopia Planitia, Mars 1, 2

  V2 ballistic missiles 1, 2, 3

  V-bombers 1

  Varmus, Harold 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

  Vaughan, Johnny 1

  Venter, Craig 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

  Verein für Raumschiffahrt 1

  Viking missions 1, 2, 3

  Vodafone 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

  Vulcan bomber 1, 2

  Wade, Nicholas 1, 2, 3

  Wallace and Gromit games 1

  Wallis, Sir Barnes 1

  Walpole, Captain Brian 1, 2, 3

  Warthog 1

  Washington 1

  water companies 1

  Waterston, Bob 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  Watson, James 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 The Double Helix 1

  Waxwing solid rocket motor 1

  Wedgwood 1

  Wellcome Ltd. 1

  Wellcome Trust 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 funding of the Human Genome Project 1, 2

  Bermuda conference 1

  favours resisting Venter 1

  Sanger Centre’s grant application 1

  decision to increase Sanger Centre’s funding 1, 2, 3

  assets 1

  believes in free release of genome information 1

  prepared to pay for the whole genome 1

  Wellington raids 1

  Westland 1

  Weybridge plant 1

  Whent, Gerald 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

  White, Tony 1

  Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1

  Wilson, Harold 1

  Wilson government 1, 2

  Windows 1, 2

  Wise, Ernie 1

  Wolfe, Tom: The Right Stuff 1, 2

  Woomera test range, Nullarbor Plain, South Australia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

  Wright, David 1, 2

  X-ray telescope 1, 2

  Xanadu restaurant, Cambridge 1

  XMM-Newton Observatory 1

  Yeager, Chuck 1

  Young, W. R. 1, 2, 3

  Zovirax 1

  About the Author

  Francis Spufford, a former Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year (1977), has edited two acclaimed literary anthologies and a collection of essays on the history of technology. His first book, I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination, was awarded the Writers Guild Award for Best Non-Fiction Book of 1996 and a Somerset Maugham Award, and also inspired a Frankfurt Ballet production and a clown show at the Edinburgh Festival 2001. His second, The Child that Books Built, was described as ‘witty, compelling and elegant’ by the New Statesman. His third, Backroom Boys, was called a ‘beautifully written book’ by the Daily Telegraph and was shortlisted for the Aventis Prize and longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. Francis Spufford lives in Cambridge.

  Copyright

  This ebook edition published in 2010

  by Faber and Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  All rights reserved

  © Francis Spufford, 2003

  The right of Francis Spufford to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All the illustrations are reproduced by kind permission of the Dan Dare Corporation Limited

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–26644–9