Today is St George's Day, Shakespeare's birthday, and, alarmingly, the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

While helping my parents move house earlier this year I came across my Spectrum, which occupied a position of some importance in our house from, I think, early 1983, to around 1986. It was actually our third Spectrum - the first two broke soon after being plugged-in. I recall the return rate for new Spectrums was rather high: the factory in Dundee that produced them was under such pressure to meet demand that quality control was pretty poor.

I was keen on the Spectrum for a couple of years, then lost interest in computers for a long time. I did an arts degree then worked in journalism for a time, before my interest in technology was rekindled by the emergence of web in the 1990s.

Clearly the Spectrum did its job though, planting a seed of interest in my mind which eventually grew. Just wanted to say a quick thanks to all involved in making the Spectrum available to so many at an affordable price.

The BBC and Guardian have nice pieces about the anniversary.