John Richard Patterson (17 May 1945 – 29 January 1997)[1] was the founder of the UK-based computer dating service Dateline. The Guardian called him "history's most successful Cupid,"[2] while The Times characterized Dateline as "probably the largest, longest established and most successful computer dating service in the world."[1]
Patterson was born in Hertfordshire and educated at Bishop's Stortford College. The son of a banker, he earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of London in 1966.[1] He founded Dateline in 1966 after a trip to Harvard University, where he had seen a computer used to match partners at a freshman's ball. The company was founded with £50.00,[1] which he had borrowed from his parents, and later used an IBM computer.[3]
The company was highly successful, eventually becoming "the world's biggest and most enduring introduction service" in the 1980s and 1990s.[2] However, Patterson struggled to find clients at first, and engaged in shady business practices: he was convicted of fraud in 1969 for selling lists of women who signed up for his dating service to men who were looking for prostitutes.[4] Dateline relied heavily on advertising, taking out the first full-page ads for a dating service in newspaper and magazines during the early 1970s, and becoming known for its catchphrase, "You too can find love."[1] [5] In 1974, Patterson bought out and absorbed Com-Pat, his only major competitor and the first computer dating service in the UK, started in 1964 by Joan Ball. Patterson also published a monthly magazine titled Singles, and in 1975 he launched a travel agency, Singles Holidays.[1] While these ventures eventually folded, Dateline continued to operate throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. During the 1990s, some estimates suggested that the company matched more than 40,000 prospective couples a year, approximately 2,000 of whom ended up getting married.[1]
Patterson was an avid aviator, purchasing his first plane in 1972,[1] and winning The Sunday Times Beaujolais Wine Race two years running in his single seater light aircraft.
Patterson was married to Sandy Nye (also known as Valerie); the couple had three children before divorcing in 1982. He subsequently had two more children with his former secretary, Kim Sellick.[6] He struggled with alcoholism later in life,[7] [8] and died of a heart attack in 1997.[1] [2]
After Patterson's death, Dateline was sold to the Columbus Publishing Group in 1998, for £1.45 million.[3]