The Acorn Computer Company was founded in 1982 by computer programmer Gerald Acorn. He had been working into the night programming his BBC Micro to repeat the word "boobs" on an infinite loop when he brushed the Break key, erasing weeks of work and almost three lines of BASIC. In anger, he threw the computer to the floor where it landed on his cat's tail. The cat flew into a rage, throwing Acorn to the floor and punching and kicking him unconscious.