On This Day - 11th February

The first episode of 4 Computer Buffs is broadcast on Channel 4. The seven-part series was presented by Tony Bastable, Jane Ashton and Mike Thorne and was aimed at the growing number of people becoming interested in home computers.

The programme was notable for exploring ways in which television could be used to communicate computer information. Among its most ambitious features was the experimental transmission of software through the television picture. Viewers could build or purchase a light-sensitive receiver and connect it to their computer, allowing specially transmitted software to be converted into programs.

The system was initially designed to support several popular home computers, including the 48K ZX Spectrum. The receiver used a phototransistor positioned over a flashing area of the television screen, turning changes in the transmitted light into computer-readable data. This made 4 Computer Buffs an early example of television being used not simply to discuss computers, but to actually distribute software to viewers.

The series also covered computer hardware, software, programming and developments in the rapidly changing home-computer market. It became an interesting snapshot of the British computing scene in 1985, at a time when machines such as the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and Atari computers were becoming increasingly common in British homes.

Sinclair Research's computer division moved into newly refurbished premises at 25 Willis Road, Cambridge. The former factory had been bought by Sinclair in the autumn of 1981 and had been undergoing improvement work since then. The move brought the division's research and development and marketing sections together on the same site for the first time.