A history of the Elite
The Guardian has an interesting article about the origins of the great Acorn game Elite. I think I only ever reached deadly, in about 1985...
For Christmas 1981, an 18-year-old boy in Epping was given a computer by his parents. David Braben's Acorn Atom cost £120. He knew this because he had requested it. In the way of parents with technically-minded offspring everywhere, his mum and dad had asked for guidance about what he wanted and he'd picked the machine that seemed to cost a plausible Christmas-sized amount. For the £120, he got a kit of parts.