How the Amstrad CPC changed lives: Roland Perry on retro computing, marketing and innovation
What was the Amstrad CPC really meant to be – a games machine or an educational computer?
In this in-depth interview, Jo Cook speaks with Roland Perry, the engineer and product strategist behind the Amstrad CPC and PCW, about the decisions, trade-offs, and business thinking that shaped an era of home computing.
We go far beyond the usual “Why three-inch disks?” and “Did you meet Alan Sugar?” questions to explore:
The original vision for the CPC and Roland wanting a BBC Micro–style educational machine
How the CPC manual was written to teach computing, not just show how to load games
The story behind the welcome tape, written in BASIC so users could aspire to write similar programs
Inside Amstrad & working with Alan Sugar
Hitting the critical price point and what that meant in practice
Beyond Amstrad: Vodafone and those free internet cover CDs
Ethics, legislation and unintended consequences
Roland’s honest take on the idea of a CPC Mini and whether it makes business sense
Host: Jo Cook, learning & development consultant, virtual training specialist and long-time Amstrad community member
Recorded at: UK Amstrad Group inaugural meetup 21st June 2026, Ottershaw Village Hall, Surrey, UK
Read more on our blog and join our WhatsApp Community: https://www.ukag.org.uk/
Big thank you to Mark Fixes Stuff for cleaning up the audio
/ markfixesstuff
Recorded on equipment from Rob Scott and Maciek Korzeniowski
Edited by Jo Cook
Music by Asep_bagus, "Jump and Run game background music"
https://tinyurl.com/y9jyb2rj
Thanks to TechSmith for providing Camtasia video editing software.
https://www.techsmith.com/