Terry Prone: Secrecy, cover-ups and risky behaviour — the hallmarks of any pandemic

There are remarkable similarities in the modern response to the coronavirus pandemic with accounts of bubonic plague in 17th century London

People praying for relief from the bubonic plague or the black death; accounts of which hold many similarities to what we are experiencing with the coronavirus pandemic. Picture: Hulton Archive

Michael Hart was a writer and a university lecturer with a techie pal in the university who gave him sneaky access to the wide area network the university had created. This was back when we talked about LANs and WANs to each other. They were what came before the internet.

Hart, appreciating the value of his pal’s gift, was ready when the internet came along. He wanted to give something in return for the computer time he had been given, and thought the best way to do it would be to make available for free to anybody who wanted to read them, copies of the Bible, Shakespeare, and Mark Twain.