A British company stands on the cusp of a technological breakthrough that will change how the entire world operates. The idea is worth countless hundreds of billions of pounds and is years ahead of similar efforts in America and elsewhere. The year, alas, is not 2011 but 1951.
Highly-specialized technology firms make today's computing breakthroughs. Still, LEO was created by J Lyons and Co, operator of tea shops, manufacturer of biscuits, and founder of the Wimpy burger chain.
Lyons was no ordinary catering firm, however. It had a longstanding culture of technological innovation. When an oven or a van didn't quite meet the firm's requirements, in-house engineers would be commissioned to create a better one.
LEO Lyons Electronic Office occupied 5,000 square feet at the firm's headquarters at Cadby Hall in Hammersmith. Its first task, and the world's first business computing application, was to calculate the costs of Lyons' weekly bakery distribution run. This stultifying task had previously been carried out by hand by account clerks.
But in the end, after the LEO team was spun off to build computers for other companies and then merged with the rest of the electronics industry by the Wilson government during the 1960s, the early lead British business had taken in the information revolution was lost.