John Coll

John Coll was a British computer specialist. While teaching physics at Oundle school he built a number of computers and was involved in Micro Users in Secondary Education (MUSE). He helped write the functional description for the BBC Computer and played an important role in convincing senior management at the BBC that it could be done. He later wrote the BBC Microcomputer User Guide which was supplied by Acorn Computers with the BBC Micro and appeared regularly on the television programmes Making the Most of the Micro and Micro Live which featured the computer.

Professional career

He taught physics at Keil School and then at Oundle School where he was also head of Electronics and was also a tutor at Laxton House.

At Oundle he learnt to program the school's Data General Nova 3 computer alongside a number of pupils, built a Motorola 6800 based microcomputer from scratch, designing and etching the printed circuit boards personally and then purchased and built a kit SWTPC 6800-based computer which was made available to the pupils. He was also active with the organisation 'Micro Users in Secondary Education (MUSE)'.

Coll

Coll (Scottish Gaelic: Cola) is an island located west of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Coll is known for its sandy beaches, which rise to form large sand dunes, for its corncrakes, and for Breacachadh Castle. It is in the council area of Argyll and Bute.

Geography and geology

Coll is about 13 miles (20 km) long by 3 miles (5 km) wide and has a population of around 220. Coll's sandy beaches rise to form large sand dunes. The highest point on Coll is Ben Hogh in the mid west of the island, a ridge with two tops running NW/SE, which rises initially to a height of 104 metres (341 ft) with a triangulation pillar, and to 106 metres (348 ft) 450 metres (492 yd) to the southeast.

Settlements

Arinagour (Scottish Gaelic: Àirigh nan Gobhar), is the main settlement on the island located at the head of Loch Eatharna, on the east coast. Other inhabited locations include:

Coll (letter)

Coll is the Irish name of the ninth letter of the Ogham alphabet ᚉ, meaning "hazel-tree", which is related to Welsh collen pl cyll, and Latin corulus. Its Proto-Indo-European root was *kos(e)lo-. Its phonetic value is [k].

References

The Chronicles of Prydain

The Chronicles of Prydain is a pentalogy of children's high fantasy Bildungsroman novels by Lloyd Alexander. Henry Holt published one annually from 1964 to 1968; the second earned a 1966 Newbery Honor and the last won the 1969 Newbery Medal.

The five novels follow one protagonist Taran from youth to maturity, most overtly in the fourth book, Taran Wanderer. Taran has the title Assistant Pig-Keeper at Caer Dallben but initially dreams of being a grand hero. His most important companions in adventure are Princess Eilonwy, a girl his age; Fflewddur Fflam, a wandering bard and minor king; Gurgi, a wild hominid between animal and man; and Doli, a dwarf.

Inspiration and development

Thematically the novels draw upon Welsh mythology, particularly the Mabinogion. The novels are not, however, retellings of those myths, a point Alexander himself makes in an author's note for The Book of Three: stories have been conflated, and characters have been changed in both role and motive, so a student of Welsh culture should be prepared as Arawn becomes the books' dark arch enemy and Gwydion's negative traits are replaced with unclouded heroism.