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Jay Blades revisits three items from the predigital age that together have helped influence the microchip-driven technology that we take for granted today.

The episode begins with an analogue cash register owned by Judy Evans. Jay tells the story of how the first tills were designed to stop embezzling at an American saloon in the 19th century, and how they made it over to this side of the Atlantic. He also shows how these early versions paved the way for a piece of tech that survives to this day, despite the impact of decimalisation and the move to cash-free transactions.

The next item is a beautiful camera owned by the great-grandfather of Phil Jones during the First World War. It’s one of the pioneering devices that appeared at the turn of the century and laid the foundations for the cameras that are now so ubiquitous today. Jay uses archive to tell the story of pioneering war photographers and how cameras like this one laid the groundwork for today's digital photography.

Finally, an old-fashioned manual calculator brought in by Donald Creasy and his family. Jay charts how the humble lever-driven machine owned by Donald led to the calculators that we take for granted today.