About this Project

Creation

Alan Cooper was one of the pioneering staff at LOLA, joining at the start in 1970 as a Software Specialist / Database Administrator in the Applications Support department, until leaving in 1975.

In retirement and whilst disposing of a lifetime's accumulation of technical papers he came across some documents about LOLA. A web search found very little information about this cutting-edge organisation exists in the public domain. In 2021 he created this website about LOLA.

He was soon assisted by former LOLA employees who provided further information and documentation. About 200 former staff have been identified and they are listed on the Staff page along with the teams they were in.

Delivery

Once artefacts had been collected and/or scanned and this website had been created, thoughts turned to preservation. Having been aware that the LEO Computer Society had deposited their information with The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge, Alan approached them and they argreed to receive the information.See the

The artefacts and the Catalogue were delivered in September 2024. In due course this website will pass to the CfCH as well.

I am liasing with the CfCH as to how to promote the LOLA story and the collection. A display has been discussed (see the CfCH page) for a display mockup.

Statistics

The project has amassed over 3,300 pages of LOLA specific information plus over 200 photgraphs as well as various manuals and course notes from 1970s retained by a staff members. Almost 50% of the LOLA pages are available through this website.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks must go to the people who have responded with information, documents and photographs. Almost 200 documents and over 200 photographs and 4 videos have been provided. All this material has needed to be scanned. The 28 former staff providing such material are listed on the Research Sources page.

Also thanks to those helping to publicise this project. They include Penny Horwood, Associate Editor, Computing for writing the article From the archive: What was LOLA? [⇗]. (that is a paywall - you can view the article here[⇗]).

Further thanks to those who helped to trace Derek Schartau , LOLA's first CEO. In particular to geneologist Katherine Kelly and to Tony Watts who handled Derek's estate, Derek having died in 2013.

References

1. Havant was IBM's disk drive manufacturing plant but Alan worked for IBM International Services Ltd (known internally as Respond). Whilst there he had access to the IBM Research articles and recalls reading one on databases - maybe Codd's papers on relational databases and SQL, or maybe on IMS. He knew this was the future and then saw the LOLA advert ....

2. For a brief history of Derek's unusual surname see the footnote and click view / hide.

   Click to view / hide.

   Schartau is a Swedish name. Schartau's were also very influential in the Swedish empire that historically included what is now Denmark, Norway, Finland and western Russia. One famous one is Henric Schartau (1757-1825), a Swedish Lutheran priest who influenced a revivalist movement known as Schartauanism.

   One day Derek called Alan Cooper to his office. Derek had received a book all about the Schartau dynasty. The problem was it was in Danish! But Derek knew my wife Kristina was Swedish. Could she translate it? Well she did translate the chapter about the UK link. One of the Schartau was a sea captain who married an English woman from Broadstairs, Kent. They lived in Lund in SE Sweden and on his death she returned to Broadstairs with 2 of her 6 children. It is from one of these 2 children that Derek is related. Derek subsequently made a number of visits to southern Sweden. He retired from LOLA to live in Dorset.

   Derek had a passion for the English caricaturist, water-colourist, engraver and draughtsman, Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827). He amassed quite a collection of his drawings and before he died donated them to Kent University where they are known as The collection of Derek Schartau.