The butterfly effect

1696

While performing in The Indian Emperor at Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre, Irish actor George Farquhar forgets to replace his real sword with a foil. During a fight scene he runs through a fellow actor, badly injuring him. Distraught, Farquhar vows never to act again and leaves Dublin for London.

1699

In a London pub Farquhar hears the landlady’s niece Anne Oldfield reciting poetry. He recommends she take up acting and she goes on to become one of the highest-paid actresses in London. In 1706 she appears in Farquhar’s play The Recruiting Officer: her star power helps make it a hit.

1736

David Garrick, a pupil at Edial Hall in Staffordshire, appears in a school production of The Recruiting Officer. The performance sparks a lifelong love of the stage and Garrick later abandons the family wine business to embark on a successful career as an actor and theatre manager.

1754

Aspiring actor John Walker is hired to work under Garrick, who is managing the Drury Lane theatre. While Walker’s acting career fails to take off, he is so impressed with Garrick’s onstage vocal performances that he is inspired to write a ‘pronouncing dictionary’ to help those with regional accents talk in more ‘cultured’ tones.

1829

In an effort to improve his elocution, Isaac Pitman, a 16-year-old clerk from Trowbridge in Wiltshire, copies out all the words he doesn’t know from Walker’s pronouncing dictionary. In the process he notices the irrationality of the standard English writing and spelling system and sets out to launch his own alternative – Pitman shorthand.

1840s

To promote his new script, Pitman launches the world’s first distance learning course with lessons in shorthand sent through the post. Correspondence courses grow steadily in popularity in the years that follow, allowing a greater access to education.

1938

Travelling on the New York subway, factory worker Ralph Baer sees an advertisement for a correspondence course in radio electronics. Baer, who had left school aged 14 when he was forced to flee Nazi Germany, spends a quarter of his $12 weekly wage on the National Radio Institute’s technical course and begins working as a radio and TV service technician in 1940.

1st September 1966

Now chief engineer at defence contractor Sanders Associates, Baer is struck with the idea of creating games that could be played on television sets, which had become popular across America. His bosses agree to let him develop his idea for ‘TV games’ and the company licenses the resulting prototype, dubbed ‘The Brown Box’, to television manufacturer Magnavox. In 1972 the Odyssey Model 1TL200, the world’s first home games console, is launched.

1972-2020

While sales of the Magnavox Odyssey are disappointing, it inspires a host of other video game consoles including the Atari Video Computer System (1977), the Nintendo Entertainment System (1983) and the Sega Mega Drive (1988). By 2020 the global games business is worth $159 billion.

November 2020

Widespread lockdowns worldwide to curb the spread of Covid-19 spark an unprecedented demand for video games and consoles. Nintendo sells over 12 million Nintendo Switch units during the pandemic and Sony’s PlayStation 5, released in November 2020, sells 4.5 million units before the end of the year, becoming the fastest-selling console in history.

14th May 2021

The surge in demand for semiconductors needed to produce game consoles contributes to a global shortage. The car industry is particularly badly hit. GM, Tesla and Ford all reduce vehicle production and temporarily shut plants. On 14th May a report predicts that the shortage will cost the global car industry $110 billion (£81 billion) in lost revenue in 2021.

Posted on Friday, July 5th, 2024 - Categories: #43 - Apr-June 2021, App Issues.