Richard Russell
Richard Russell worked closely with Acorn in creating the original BBC BASIC, and wrote the Z80 and 80x86 and versions, later updating 80x86 BBC BASIC to a full Windows version.
He was educated at Gravesend Grammar School and Hertford College, Oxford graduating with a degree in physics in 1973.[1] That year he began work at the BBC as a design engineer.
In 1980 the BBC were planning a television series on computers and wanted a computer that viewers could buy. After a tendering process, Acorn Computers were chosen. Richard was on the team that specified the programming language the computer would use, working closely with Sophie (then Roger) Wilson at Acorn.
In 1983 Richard wrote the first Z80 version of BBC BASIC, a generic CP/M text-only version. This was followed by versions for many other Z80-based computers. In 1986 Richard converted the Z80 code to 80x86 code to create the initial version of 80x86 BBC BASIC.
