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John Smythson
John Smythson Born 1931, died December 2019, aged 88.
His wife Judy writes: "John read Mathematics at Trinity, Cambridge but changed to English after the first year as the school he had been evacuated to during the war had not covered Applied Maths and he found at Trinity that he had too much to catch up on. It says a lot for his versatility that he was able to graduate in English after only two years study.
After an abortive few months in advertising he was lucky enough to spot an advertisement for some new fangled thing called a computer and he started his career at LEO in 1956. After a period spent programming he moved to the training department under Robin Gibson and found his true home starting at Hartree House, then in Ealing and finally at Beaumont until 1990 when he had to retire following a devastating brain haemorrhage. He was wheelchair bound and disabled in many ways but has survived nearly 30 years through grit and determination, living a fulfilling life, never feeling sorry for himself but concentrating on what he could do rather than that which he could no longer do. There may be some oldies who remember him”.
Peter Byford, Chair of the LEO Computers Society, adds "many will remember him as Training Manager at Hartree House and his ability to make nervous applicants and LEO recruits feel at ease.”
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