Photos: The world's first business computer turns 60

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Leo computer

Taking tea with the Leo...

The world of business today would collapse without computers to make sure staff get paid and customers receive their orders.

Enterprise's love affair with computing can be traced back to this machine, the Lyons Electronic Office or Leo I.

Leo's first task was working out how much it cost Lyons to get buns, tea cakes and other baked goods from its bakery into its national chain of tea shops - a far cry from the multibillion-pound financial transactions trusted to corporate machines today.

If Leo's first task sounds menial that's because it was. Before the computer came along it required clerks to crank through the many calculations, exactly the sort of boring and repetitive task that was ripe for automation.

That very first business application was fired up 60 years ago on Thursday, and today computer conservation enthusiasts gathered at London Science Museum to mark the anniversary at an event supported by Google.

Photo: Science & Society Picture Library