News & Updates
9th May 2026
The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) held the first conference on Computers in Education in 1970. Held approximately every five years, some of the conference proceedings are available online.
Later ones no doubt exist in archives in paper format, but these are the only ones so far that are held online by IFIP I believe. They present a fascinating glimpse at computer education around the world at the time, and naturally there is some UK and Ireland content, given that (at the time) we were still "trailblazing". In the 1975 proceedings, there is a paper by Colin Hampson-Evans, who at that time was the CES Project Director. The paper presents a concise overview of the ICL-CES project, for an international audience that likely didn't know too much about the programme. For ease, the paper is reproduced here for your viewing from the huge 1975 proceedings document: Colin Hampson-Evans' paper on the ICL-CES project. (Source: IFIP)
3rd May 2026
Another 300+ pages scanned, this time of the Computer Studies Book 1 Teachers Pack for the 16- scheme. This released in an A4 lever-arch file in 1971. It totals approx 315 pages, typeset using a typewriter with coding sheets and some images presented on yellow cardstock. When it was first made available in 1971, it cost £30 to buy, rising to £35 in October 1975. (£30 in 1971 equates to £386 in March 2026.) The pack included also included a copy of the pupils book, coding sheets, flowcharting template, overhead projector slides/transparencies, problem supplements, and case study kits. This pack is part of the National Archive of Educational Computing (NAEC).
Picture of the front cover is here: Computer Studies -16. I also have part 2 to scan.
26th April 2026
I've been busy scanning, and the item shared today is Computer Studies Book 1 - Teachers Package - Transparency Pack (c) 1971. This was released alongside the original book 1, and is one of two sets of transparencies. Each pack has twenty transparencies, in a Flipatran format which I gather was a device that you attached to an OHP to make the images easier to share. Comments in later newsletters indicate that some teachers were puzzled how to make use of the pack. The content is relatively simple on today's terms, but of course we have to remember that in 1971 this book would have been high-tech, and allowed the sharing (and teaching) of images to a screen at the front of class. I myself just caught the tail-end of teaching computing using OHPs and acetates, and I remember teaching computing with screenshots of an operating system and talking about the various points. Seems crazy these days!
Because the images are relatively simple, they lend themselves to block-filling them with colour. Here is an example of one such slide (slide 4) that I have 'coloured in'.
PDF showing front cover and details of the two packs.
Full PDF scan of the twenty acetates (300dpi)
16th April 2026
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I vibe-coded a web-based CESIL interpreter. You can access that here
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Also added some updates to The End
4th April 2026
The Institute of Education at the University of London has a collection of ICL-CES books.
From top to bottom.
- 16- pupil book 3, first edition, Dec 1977 reprint.
- 16- pupil book 1, first edition, original 1971 print.
- Information Retrieval in Schools (IRIS), first edition/printing April 1976. Hardback. My copy of this is also a first edition but is softback. Like my copy, this has an errata page fixed at the front of the book, also dated April 1976.
- 16- pupil book 2, first edition, March 73 reprint.
- 16- teachers' guide book 3, first edition, November 1981 reprint
- IRIS teachers' guide/supplement. 24 loose sheets to aid teaching. (First time I'd seen this!)
- 16- teachers' guide book 1, second edition. Printed August 1980. (281 pages)
- 16- teachers' guide book 1, first edition, second printing July 1972. In a lever-arched file. The National Archive of Educational Computing also has this, and I have borrowed it for scanning.
3rd April 2026
As mentioned below, I recently visited Richard Millwood at the National Archive of Educational Computing. The archive has several ICL-CES items, and there could be more to unearth. In due course I'll write about them on here. Here's a set of the first edition pupil books for the -16 programme. Books 1 and 2 are first printings of the first edition. Note that the number of punch cards to identify book 2 is incorrect. This was fixed in later printings.
If we look at the side-aspect - note that book 3 indicates that it is book 3 due to the number of highlighted punch cards. This would make it easier to identify on the shelf of a busy classroom. However, note that book 1 and book 2 have the entire row filled in. Not very useful - helpful. I have a later book 2 printing and they did indeed fix this in later reprintings. I don't know for sure whether this is the case with book 1, as my own book 1 is also a first printing.
Stored as a PDF is the publishing details for the book 1, 2 and 3 that are stored in the archive. Publishing details PDF (Source: NAEC)
The archive also holds the second editions of book 1 and 2, of course changed colour to make them even more distinguishable. Remember, there was no second edition of book 3.
There was also some teachers materials in the archive. More on those another day.
2nd April 2026
A big update. I've finally found the time to move the site off Google Sites, and now I'm using Eleventy to generate the site from a much more manageable source - markdown documents. I never appreciated the interest that the material would bring. Initially the Google Site was just for my own use to collect my thoughts, but this change will make the site easier to work with in the longer run.
Also, after a few months of planning, I visited London to accomplish two tasks.
- Visit Richard Millwood and the National Archive of Educational Computing.
- To visit the Institute of Education's library, to view some items there. There was a lot of new material that I need further time to collate, and a further update will appear here in due course.
22nd November 2025
Some good fortune allowed me to obtain a collection of ICL-CES books, including some first printings.
They all looked to be in excellent shape, and included a First Edition Book 1 and also Information Retrieval in Schools, that I knew existed, but hadn't seen before.
I got in touch with the bookshop. It was a few months since they'd received them, so I thought I might have missed out. First Edition Book 3 had sold, but the rest were still in stock, as well as a few other interesting closely-related books.
A deal was done and the books were with me the very next day.
The books acquired:
- Book 1, First Edition, first printing September 1971 (I didn't have a first ed up until now, and a bonus that it's also a first printing)
- Book 2, First Edition, first printing September 1972
- Book 1, Second Edition, third printing, October 1979. This had a fold of paper in, of one page from the intro to CES docs. It's a puzzle as to why this was in the second edition, as the writing relates to the first editions. However it does have Kingsthorpe High, Northampton underlined, and in the very same book in the acknowledgements section Mary Simpson and Wellingborough School are underlined. A possible connection for me to ponder over. (The bookshop was in Northampton).
- Book 2, Second Edition, third printing August 1980
- Information Retrieval in Schools, First Edition April 1976. Great to finally get this! Interestingly this has an officially released errata stuck into the inside front cover, and the issues have been ticked off in pencil.
It wasn't worthy of an update at the time, but another book I've had for a while now is the ICL print of Computers, Information and You, First Edition August 1983. This book (aimed at primary-aged children is the only book that was published by both ICL and then later Acorn once they took over the project.
Check out the Books page for more information.
15th December 2024
Colin Monson interview from June 2024.