Back in December 1981 I was working as an Apprentice at a large Aerospace company in their Quality Department. It is easy for me to narrow down the year as having taken my ZX81 computer in to show him, the bloke I was working for, Harry, decided his kids were getting one for Christmas. I'm sure this was unrelated to his own interest in computers which until the ZX81 were too expensive for most people. Then, having then found a circuit and got the parts, he then assigned me the task of building a 16K RAM pack - on stripboard - to go with the ZX81 ! So the week before Christmas I was busy building part of his kids Christmas present - soldering practice for the apprentice. There were lots of memorable Characters in that department. Harry was like a West Country version of Doc Emmett Brown, However, working in the office area there was a man in his 50s who seemed very square, All day he would just get on with his work stopping at precisely 1:00pm to eat his sandwiches and read his newspaper before starting work again at precisely 2:00pm. I can't imagine his musical tastes extending beyond Frank Sinatra. It was therefore rather surprising when, on the last day at work that year, he turned up with a large Sharp Boombox which he had brought in to play a tape of Christmas Carols. I can't remember which model it was close to the top of the range and cost about £200. It definitely had LED VU meters as he commented that was the one thing he didn't like, considering them to be a distracting gimmick. What is most memorable is how enthusiastic he was about the Sharp, praising its sound quality and everything else about it (except the LEDs). He said that the Sharp he had brought in normally lived in his lounge but he had been so impressed he had bought another, similar, Sharp to use in his and his wifes bedroom. It goes to show that not all Boombox buyers were Hip Hop loving teenagers. Do you have any Christmas Boombox Stories to tell ? Maybe you did take your newly acquired Boombox around "The 'Hood" on Christmas day blasting out Hip Hop.
