Director’s Reports

In January 1957 Dr. Ewan Page was appointed as the Director of the Durham University Computing Laboratory at King’s College Newcastle and in November of the same year the Computing Laboratory took possession of its first computer, a Ferranti Pegasus, and began the twin tasks of providing a computing service, and undertaking computing-related teaching and research. For the next thirty-two years the work of the Laboratory was summarised in an annual Director’s Report. These reports provide an un-paralled series of glimpses into the growth of computing at Newcastle University – the struggle to keep up with the ever-growing demand for computing facilities, the provision of a growing variety of academic and service courses, and the achievements of an ever-expanding research programme. Dr (later Professor) Page was responsible for all the reports up until that for the academic year 1978–1979, after which Professor Harry Whitfield undertook this responsibility. All are both very informative and readable — and often entertaining. (The first twenty reports were used as the source of “Secrets 1973” for the scriptwriters of “Oh What a Lovely Lab”, a single-performance musical extravaganza created to help celebrate the Computing laboratory’s Thirtieth Anniversary.)

1957–1958
1958–1959
1959–1960
1960–1961
1961–1962
1962–1963
1963–1964
1964–1965
1965–1966
1966–1967
1967–1968
1968–1969
1969–1970
1970–1971
1971–1972
1972–1973
1973–1974
1974–1975
1975–1976
1976–1977
1977–1978
1978–1979
1979–1980
1980–1981
1981–1982
1982–1983
1983–1984
1984–1985
1985–1986
1986–1987
1987–1988
1988–1989
Secrets 1973