Pinkerton in fact was already a friend of Maurice Wilkes through their war work on radar with the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) - in this letter to Simmons, Wilkes describes Pinkerton as 'ideal' for the job of leading the LEO team.

Transcript :

1st December, 1948.

J.R.M. Simmons Esq.,
Messrs. J. Lyons & Co. Ltd.,
Cadby Hall,
London, W.1.4.

Dear Mr. Simmons,

	I have just had a visit from J.M. Pinkerton who is interested in your vacant post for an electronic engineer. He replied to you advertisement in "Nature" and showed me a letter he had received from you in which you said that the project was connected with one in progress in this laboratory. As Pinkerton was a personal friend of mine he came to see me about it without waiting to be put in touch formally by you.

	I think Pinkerton would be an ideal man for your purpose - in fact when, some considerable time ago, you asked me if I knew anyone who would suit you Pinkerton was one of the people I approached. At that time he was hoping for a Fellowship at Trinity and was therefore not interested in a commercial appointment. I knew him at T.R.E. during the war and he has had just the type of experience required for our kind of work.

	No doubt you will be seeing Pinkerton and will form your own opinion of him. I just thought I would let you have this information without delay.

									Yours sincerely,
										[signed M.V. Wilkes]

Provenance :
Collected by Peter Bird as part of his research for his book, LEO - The First Business Computer (1994).