Pete Shaw (author)
British author, broadcaster, programmer and theatrical producer
Pete Shaw is a British author, broadcaster, programmer and theatrical producer.
Early life
Shaw attended school in Stanwell, Middlesex. While at Stanwell Secondary School, he was introduced by a school friend to Tim Hartnell, the co-owner of Interface Publication, the other owner being his school friend's mother, Sue North.
His first published computer program was The Elephant's Graveyard, written for the Sinclair ZX81 and published in the magazine ZX Computing in August 1982.
Career
Shaw's first book, Games for your ZX Spectrum, followed at the end of 1982 and was published by Virgin Books in conjunction with Interface Publications and was an early title in a series of Games For Your ... books published by Virgin. Shaw himself wrote three more books for the series, including Games for your Oric, More Games for your Oric and Games for your Sinclair QL. Shaw also co-wrote two books designed to teach the adventure game genre, Creating Adventures on your ZX Spectrum (Interface Publications, 1983) and Creating Adventure on your BBC Micro (Interface Publications, 1985).
Shaw's books mainly comprised Type-In program listings for home computers, which were designed to teach-as-you-type, since the programs contained many comments on how the listing worked.
Before he even left school, Shaw was a regular contributor to ZX Computing and Home Computer Weekly, and on leaving Stanwell Secondary School he turned down a sought after place at Isleworth Art College to work full-time for the newly launched computer magazine Your Spectrum.
It was at Your Spectrum (which later was relaunched as Your Sinclair) that Shaw picked up the nickname Troubleshootin' Pete due to his regular column in the magazine in which he would answer reader questions that had been posed over the YS Helpline.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Pete Shaw (author)” is british author, broadcaster, programmer and theatrical producer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Pete, Shaw and author, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “british author, broadcaster, programmer and theatrical producer” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7172251. The first chronological checks are 1982, 1983 and 1985.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Pete Shaw (author)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Pete Shaw (author) primary sources, Pete Shaw (author) archive and Pete research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pete Shaw (author)”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Pete Shaw (author)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.