BBC Four have been running a series of programmes based around the evolution of technology over the last few decades and they have all made very good viewing indeed. I have downloaded the BBC iPlayer Desktop and have had Micro Men queued up for some time now and managed to find time to watch it the other night. It was based on the home computer boom of the eighties and the battle between Sinclair and Curry with their fantastic machines. The whole programme got me thinking…

It took one quick hunt for them but I managed to find my old Spectrum Basic books and another quick search in the loft to locate my box of Spectrums. I’m the proud owner of several flavours of speccy but the favourite by far is my ZX 48K. There was a good feeling after unwrapping it after years of being hidden away knowing that you own a piece of history and an even better feeling remembering the hours spent tinkering with Basic.

So I’m setting myself a challenge to learn the Basics once again as I think its a language thats been overtaken and almost forgotten about and therefore is becoming a lost art.