The stories of the pioneering people behind IT

This expanding database contains more than 200 oral histories recorded by the Archives of IT team. They tell the extraordinary story of how the Tech industry has transformed our lives, in the words of the people who made and are making it happen.

You can filter interviews by subject area below or use the Search button at the top of the page. If you know who you are looking for, use our A-Z list here.

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Sian Cleary

Sian Cleary has used the Archives of IT and other sources to write her MA dissertation on Government policy towards IT from 1992 to 1997, the years of John Major’s prime ministership.  In the archive she discovered the pivotal work of Professor Stephen Temple CBE in getting a European policy, driven by the UK, for single mobile network.  She also admired the work of Charles Hughes who, after a long career at ICL and others, played a vital role in the Information Society Initiative by Government in association with Ian Taylor, MP and MBE, another contributor to the archive. 

Edwina Dunn OBE

Edwina Dunn OBE has spent her 40 years in the IT industry analysing great globs of data and turning it into useful business information to guide businesses. We call that today the analysis of big data. She started at the US CACI company which used census data to help customers such as banks and building societies. She left with her husband after nine years and they formed their own consultancy focusing on analysing customer data. Their big breakthrough was launching the Clubcard customer service for Tesco which catapulted Tesco to the front rank of UK grocery marketing. They sold the business to Tesco and formed another company. She is concerned about the ethics of using data and about the role of women in IT.

Brian McBride

Brian McBride was elected President of the CBI in 2022, bringing nearly 50 years’ experience of executive and advisory roles in major technology and commercial enterprises.  Brian’s career tracks and illuminates key developments in information and communications technology and how it has changed our lives: from office automation and mainframes to personal computers, mobile phones, internet and online services.  From his current position and experience he offers views on a range of contemporary issues.   

Dave Miles

As Director of Safety Policy at Meta (formerly Facebook) for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Dave Miles has more than thirty years of executive management experience in the technology, regulatory and charitable sectors.

Among Dave’s significant career moments was his participation in the Child Dignity in the Digital World Congress and 2017 Declaration of Rome, returning to the Vatican in 2019 to respond on Facebook’s behalf to the Pope’s call to action.

He is optimistic that technology can now provide safer solutions for young people, and says the industry is highly motivated to keep its platforms safe, so that people will continue to use them.

“The challenge will be about balancing privacy and safety for young people. The UK’s draft Online Safety Bill is very exciting and Meta looks forward to its publication,” he says. “If we get it right here in the UK, other countries will follow. In 10 years, the internet will be a more mature, regulated environment and we will stop perhaps calling it the “Wild West.”

Sir Desmond Pitcher

Sir Desmond Pitcher has worked on all sides of the IT industry. He has implemented computer systems for Sperry Univac and became a senior executive. In 1974/5 he delivered the Faraday lecture series for the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in which he predicted many of the developments of the IT industry. He has run the computerised switching systems for the telecommunications company Plessey when it was developing and building System X. He has introduced computerisation in large organisations including Littlewoods, the football pools and retailing company based on Merseyside. He later chaired the Merseyside Development Corporation.