The year of the Amstrad: how writers learned to love the computer

When Amstrad launched its word processor 30 years ago, writers were initially resistant – processing was for peas, not words. But many soon saw the benefits of life without Tipp-Ex

Even by the standards of the bulbous grey contraption that was the 1980s computer, the Amstrad PCW 8256 was an unlovely thing. The poet Hugo Williams, deciding to stick with his old Adler typewriter, dismissed it as a “grisly gulag of beige plastic”. But while it failed to win over Williams, the Amstrad did manage to convert a vast army of his fellow authors. Its launch 30 years ago, in September 1985, was a significant moment in British literary culture – the tipping point when many writers, published and aspiring, made the trek to Dixons, where it was exclusively sold, and joined the computer age.

PCW stood for “personal computer word processor”, but as a general computer, the Amstrad was limited. It really had one purpose: to process words faster and better than a typewriter. “If you want to update your office, here’s a tip,” went the press adverts, with a picture of a pile of old electric typewriters being dumped in landfill.

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