The Sinclair ZX81 may have been the reason computers took off in the UK. The low-cost computer, which attached to a TV set and audio tape recorder, booted straight into a BASIC interpreter, making it very easy to get started with programming.
Looking back, the machine was tiny: it used a 1MHz Z80, had a 20x14 character display, and 1Kb of memory (which included the screen). But someone still wrote a decent chess game in 1Kb...
Ah, memories...