Is it anything to do with commodore computers? Jack Tramiel That Jack Tramiel marketed Commodores with Rheinmetall-Borsig AG still shown on the front of the machine adds considerably to this confusion. Naturally, owners and sellers assume the typewriter is German-made. Commodore also supplied typewriters for Sears Roebuck in both the US and Canada under a deal dating back to the mid-1950s. Tramiel, who died in Stanford, California, last April 8, aged 83, was born on December 13, 1928 in Lodz, Poland, as Jacek Trzmiel. After the Nazi invasion in 1939, his family was transported to a Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, then to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Later his father died after being injected with petrol by the “Angel of Death”, Josef Mengele. Tramiel was rescued in April 1945 by the US Army. In November 1947 he emigrated to the US and in April 1948 joined the US Army, learning English very quickly by going to the movies. At Fort Dix he also learned how to repair office equipment from around the New York area, including Hermes Baby typewriters which had been commissioned by the US Army before the war. Tramiel won a service contract with Fordham University and attended an IBM school for office technology, to learn to repair electric typewriters. He quit the army in 1952 and the next year became a US citizen. In 1953, while working as a taxi driver and as a repairman, he bought a shore in the Bronx to repair office machinery, and later named it Commodore Portable Typewriters. After seeing a car with the name Commodore while on a trip to Berlin, he settled on Commodore for his trading name. Tramiel and a partner bought 200 IBM typewriters from the United Nations and repaired them for a stock. With the profit they bought Singer typewriters. But Tramiel found there was little money to be made in repairing typewriters, and he switched to selling imported Olympia, Adler and Everest typewriters. These could be sold cheaper than US brands. In 1955, to circumvent import restrictions imposed by the Warsaw Pact – which forbade Czech products going directly to the US – Tramiel set up Commodore Business Machines in Toronto. In Canada, Tramiel established an agency for Everest, then started assembling Consul typewriters from parts made by Czech company Zbrojovka Brno. “We bought the parts in Czechoslovakia and assembled them in Canada, so our typewriters were true Canadian products,” Tramiel later claimed. In the 1960s, with Japanese machines flooding typewriter markets worldwide, Tramiel looked for new markets, taking his cue from Japan and starting with adding machines and calculators. But computers brought his greatest success. He introduced the first personal computer, the Commodore PET, and his machines made computers affordable for just about everyone. Tramiel’s company made the Commodore 64 and the Commodore Amiga home computers. The Commodore 64, released in August 1982, is the best selling single personal computer model of all time. Because of the 64, Tramiel’s Commodore company grew from sales of $46 million in 1977 to more than $680 million in 1983.
That's the one - the Commodore 64 is still, I believe, the best selling PC ever - and all from relatively humble beginnings. Over to you...
The referee assessor when he watched the video of that penalty incident a few minutes after it happened....
Right, get searching! What is the ONLY London Underground station that does not contain any letters from the word "BADGER?" Info correct at 2012!
