Richard Thomas Russell is the creator of the BBC BASIC for Windows programming language and the author of the Z80 and MS-DOS versions of BBC BASIC.[1] [2] [3]
He was educated at Gravesend Grammar School and Hertford College, Oxford graduating with a degree in physics in 1973.[4] The same year he began work at the BBC as a design engineer. During his career with the BBC he was involved with several high-profile projects including the BBC Microcomputer [5] [6] and the BBC Domesday Project.[7] He retired from the BBC in 2006.
His "2D DVE for Virtual Studios" won Video R&D Achievement of the Year at the International Broadcasting Awards 1996,[8] and his hardware implementation of the BBC's patented Transform PAL Decoder[9] has been acclaimed as probably the best PAL decoder in the world.[10]
In 2008 he developed a technique for recovering the colour from the black-and-white telerecordings of TV programmes, making it possible to restore full colour versions of some programmes for which no conventional colour recordings exist.[11] [12] He is featured in the documentary "The Story of Are You Being Served?" talking about his work on the colour restoration process.[13] [14]
In addition to creating BBC BASIC for Windows, Russell also runs a support group for the language to which he regularly contributes tips, advice and comments on other users' code. He is married and lives in Norfolk in the United Kingdom.
