NEW The Ted Dabney Experience Podcast

Hello KLOVers.

We have a new episode of the Ted Dabney Experience uploaded for you.

Episode 42 sees us talk with Alistair Crooks, co-founder of Atari UK.

This is a little known story, about how the first Pong games officially arrived in the UK back in 1973, following the formation of Atari UK by Crooks and his business partner. This was way before Atari Ireland was even a thing.

Atari UK lasted just a few months, but its a cracking tale and well worthy of your time!

Listen in to the episode here, or find us on your favourite podcast player including Spotify!

Enjoy the episode!

Despite lacking any knowledge whatsoever of the amusement industry, Kellogg's sales manager Alistair Crooks and eccentric former RAF airman Phil Smith convinced a young Nolan Bushnell that they were the right men to introduce Atari's Pong to the United Kingdom in 1973. Swiftly moving from importing to manufacturing, the company arguably grew too fast and was ill positioned to weather the perfect storm of the OPEC Oil Crisis and the Three Day Week, ultimately lasting only fourteen months. This is a nuts-and-bolts yet captivating tale of what might have been, recounted with modesty and good humour.

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Wicked! This should be a good one. Thanks!
 
Glad to see it back. Been missing this podcast. This one seemed a little less organized than usual. Not a knock really, it just floated off topic a bit more than previous. I knew nothing about Atari UK so it was fun to hear from the horse mouth.
 
I actually thought overall this was a great podcast. It jumps around a little bit, especially about mid-way through on, and into seemingly unrelated, but really are related topics of early video games and arcades. Atari, of course. in particular. But it really helps put everything into perspective from a person, Alistair Crooks, who, of course was directly involved in Atari UK, which was not familiar with at all until now. It's sort of a basic general history lesson of the times of the early 1970s and with video games, and of course Atari, just coming into their own.

In my view, it's worth a listen. But, perhaps, I'm older than many here as I remember much of the early 70s vividly. Others may have a completely different take on it.
 
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