I was looking at the Economist (Nov 17th) at the library last night and saw the following (p. 76) The Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) began use 11-17-1951 in a British catering company. It was used weekly to evaluate costs, prices, and margins for the week's output of bread, cakes, and pies. It was "the first dedicated business machine to operate on the 'stored program' principle, meaning that it could be quickly reconfigured to preform different tasks by loading a new program. It occupied 5,000 square feet of floorspace, contained 6,000 thermionic valves, and its mercury-delay-line memory could hold 2,048 instructions. LEO was built by a team led by John Pinkerton (pictured), and its design was based on Cambridge University's EDSAC computer."