Rory Cellan-Jones: The rise and fall of dot com Britain

Tech Business History

As a BBC journalist, Rory-Cellan Jones witnessed the brief dot com boom in the UK, followed by the bust. Among the big stories, he covered the birth of Freeserve, Lastminute, Firebox and Clickmango - many of them headed by relatively privileged young people who'd come from Oxbridge or business school. But it was a time, he says, which has shaped Britain's attitude to entrepreneurship ever since - popularising the idea that anyone can start a business and make themselves online millionaires if their idea is good enough.