Richard T. Russell
Richard Thomas Russell is the creator of the BBC BASIC for Windows programming language and the author of the Z80 and MS-DOS versions of BBC BASIC.[1][2][3]
He was educated at Gravesend Grammar School and Hertford College, Oxford graduating with a degree in physics in 1973.[4] The same year he began work at the BBC as a design engineer.
During his career with the BBC he was involved with several high-profile projects including the BBC Microcomputer [5][6] and the BBC Domesday Project.[7] He retired from the BBC in 2006.
His "2D DVE for Virtual Studios" won Video R&D Achievement of the Year at the International Broadcasting Awards 1996,[citation needed] and his hardware implementation of the BBC's patented Transform PAL Decoder[8] has been acclaimed as probably the best PAL decoder in the world.[9]
In 2008 he developed a technique for recovering the colour from the black-and-white telerecordings of TV programmes, making it possible to restore full colour versions of some programmes for which no conventional colour recordings exist.[10][11] He is featured in the documentary "The Story of Are You Being Served?" talking about his work on the colour restoration process.[12][13]
In addition to creating BBC BASIC for Windows, Russell also runs a support group for the language to which he regularly contributes tips, advice and comments on other users' code.
He is married and lives in Norfolk in the United Kingdom.
Notes
- ^ Barry Collins, BBC Basic: the people's language,PC Pro, September 2006, pp140-141, ISSN 1355-4603
- ^ Douglas J Mounter,The BBC BASIC (Z80) Reference Manual for the Z88, February 1989, ISBN 1-871895-00-6
- ^ Doug Mounter and Richard Russell,BBC BASIC (Z80) Reference Manual for the Tatung Einstein, 1984, ISBN 1-85086-015-7
- ^ "RTR's career in Designs Department". www.bbceng.info. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
- ^ John Coll, BBC Micro User Guide, British Broadcasting Corporation 1982, page 2, ISBN 0-563-16558-8
- ^ Carol Atack, , Acorn User, October 1988, ISSN 0263-7456
- ^ Andy Finney, The BBC Domesday Project, 2007 (bottom of page)
- ^ Jim Easterbrook, The BBC transform PAL decoder, February 2008[dubious – discuss]
- ^ James Insell, From Videotape-based to File-based archives, DCC/LUCAS Workshop, December 2006, Frame 10
- ^ Mark Nelson, Colour conundrums, Everyday Practical Electronics, September 2008, page 16, ISSN 0262-3617
- ^ Charles Norton, Unscrambling an army of colours, The Guardian, 11 December 2008, page 3, ISSN 0261-3077
- ^ BBC Two, The Story of Are You Being Served?, 1 January 2010
- ^ Cast list for The Story of Are You Being Served?, The Internet Movie Database, 1 January 2010
