In the very early 1980s, my father took me into a bookstore in Auckland, New Zealand. While he browsed, I wandered over to the personal computer section where another shopper noticed my interest, asked my name, and typed

  10 FOR I% = 1 TO 10
  20 PRINT "HELLO, NATHAN"
  30 NEXT I%
  RUN

into a BBC Micro. And I was hooked. Mum and Dad saved for a year or two and bought me a Commodore 64, and I was away.

Now I try never to miss an opportunity to show the magic to young kids, and I always think of the kindly stranger when I do so.