We are all familiar with cash machines that with the right card and a pin code, you can get money out of the machine pretty much all over the world. And although online banking and swiping your card to purchase goods and services becoming more popular, there are many who still find these machines a great help. The official name of them is an Automatic Teller machine or ATM for short.
But where did they originally appear and when? Well, it was at a Barclays Bank in Enfield, to the north of London and the date was the 26th June 1967. Since this was such a new way of getting your money, people had to be convinced that it was safe to insert a card with your bank details into a machine along with a secret pin code in order to get some of your money out. Barclays had planned a big publicity campaign to convince people it was safe and to start the whole thing off, they invited a very famous comedy actor of the time to be the first person ever to use one.
So, who is this famous person? His name was Reg Varney and he was at that time the star of a popular television series called “On the Buses.” I guess quite a few of you will be scratching your head and asking who on earth was he? As I said, the show at the time was very popular, but if you get the chance to see an episode, then be prepared for the blatant sexism that was part of mainstream comedy in those days.
John Pullen 