A brief background on British involvement in computer science is given, focusing on the Alvey Project. This was a five-year, $1-billion research-and-development program for information technology begun in response to Japan's Fifth Generation Computer Systems initiative, which highlighted expert systems as a major opportunity area. Britain's manpower in the area is examined. Marketplace factors are cited to explain why the British are particularly prominent in logic and human-computer interaction. Interactions among people in developing expert systems and the influence of hiring practices are examined. British projects and European Economic Community practices in which Europe is involved are reviewed. >