Pocket Calculators

I was about eight when my oldest brother got a 'pocket' calculator. It was pale brownish-grey, and the numbers showed up in red. It did the four basic rules of arithmetic - add, subtract, multiply, divide and we were all very impressed by it.

Of course, the thrill of doing arithmetic soon wore off, but then we discovered that if you turned the calculator upside down, some numbers looked like letters, and you could spell words - there was one trick where you told a story about a woman taking various numbers of pills - typing in the numbers as you told it - and the final effect of the pills was revealed when you turned the calculator upside down and revealed that by taking "55378008" pills, she would end up "BOOBLESS". Absolutely shocking to an eight year old in 1974!

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Author of this article:

Michael Johnson

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Do You Remember Pocket Calculators?

Roxxy on 2011-05-23 18:33:27

The first calculator in our house was one my Dad bought, as he was a scientist at Birmingham University and needed one to help him with his work. It was a Lloydtron which I think we still have around somewhere- nice, chunky feel to it, and a green digit display that flickered slightly. I never tired of playing sums with it! The first calculator I ever had was a Commodore, which my sister got me for Christmas '81. I've still got that, virtually as new and still in it's box (to be honest I've never used it much!) Years later, my Dad gave me a desktop calculator thatwas much earlier- they were chucking a load out from Birmingham Uni. and he rescued one for me. It's American and dates from c.'72, and runs off the mains. Desktop calcs were around for ages before the pocket models came in- President Kennedy had one on his desk in the White House, and valve-powered versions were used by intelligence services during WW2.

Dave T on 2010-09-18 09:20:57

Another gag was to tell a fictional tale about someone, involving calculations on the way, and then asking who the person worked for; the answer was 'Shell Oil - 71077345'

Anonymous on 2006-12-15 15:06:11

yes you could have boobless or hello or the word b*****ks which is 5407708 what a rebel