Dudley Hooper

Hooper had training and experience in mathematics, accountancy, and the use and development of office technology. He was at the National Coal Board for almost two decades, from 1948 initially as a technical specialist in the application of accounting machines. He served as Chief Organising Accountant of the NCB during 1954–64. He then joined the Institute of Chartered Accountants as Technical Officer. Hooper had his first ideas on data processing in 1948, about five years before suitable computer equipment was actually available for office applications. He was a pioneer in training business users of computers.

Dudley Hooper was involved in the formation of the British Computer Society in the late 1950s. In April 1956, he chaired a meeting of the London Computer Group (LCG) at the Caxton Hall in Westminster, London, formed in the same year. The British Computer Society was formed in 1957 from the merger of the LCG and an association of scientists. Hooper was the first Chairman of British Computer Society and was later the President during 1961–62. He was a member of the Editorial Board of The Computer Journal, the journal of the British Computer Society. It was delivered on 28 January 1969 by Lord Robens of Woldingham, Chairman of the National Coal Board, at the William Beveridge Hall, University of London, under the auspices of the British Computer Society.