Rob Halliday to speak on 'Computers in Lighting Control'

UK - Collecting together his experiences working with technology as a programmer, writing about old technology in his Classic Gear column for LSi, and trying to save some of that technology with the Backstage Heritage Collection, Rob Halliday will be talking about the history of computers in entertainment lighting at the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley, near Milton Keynes on Thursday 12 March. Bletchley Park is perhaps most famous for hosting the World War 2 code-breakers. The National Museum of Computing houses a collection of historic computing equipment; perhaps in time it might provide a home to some of the Backstage Heritage Collection's historic memory lighting controls! Rob's talk is one of the museum's regular series that covers everything from the history of visual effects at the BBC to ultra-high resolution digital photography. He'll be focussing mainly on the early days of memory control when computers could only just achieve the storage and cue playback that lighting people demanded, up to the pioneering National Theatre Lightboard which had a few useful tricks that even today's consoles can't match! Doors will open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start; the museum are offering ALD, ABTT and STLD members a free, short museum tour from 6pm-7pm for those who can get there a little earlier. Tickets cost £7.50, and are available online

(Lee Baldock)

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