COMPUTICKET’S 40TH BIRTHDAY

Computicket, the ticket-booking system opened on August 16, 1971, and will celebrate 40 years on August 16, 2011.

When Computicket opened for business on August 16, 1971, in South Africa (Show Service' being the forerunner which opened on August 16, 1954), it became the first successful operation of its kind in the world, providing reservation services for a myriad of activities in the entertainment, sports and transport fields. The introduction of a centralised computer system changed forever how the marketing of entertainment would in future be done world-wide. It took at least 10 years for other countries to introduce similar systems. For this concept and realization Percy Tucker, the founder and Managing Director (who retired on August 16, 1994) has been extensively honoured nationally and internationally.

The concept of 'Computicket' was among the top 10 Great South African Inventions Exhibitions held in Cape Town and the 'Computer Week' honoured Percy Tucker as the first business visionary in SA to recognise an opportunity arising from Networking Technology. He has also been awarded the 'Marketing Man of the Year' Award as well as 3 Lifetime Achievement awards from 'Fleur de Cap', Theatre Managements of South Africa and a Vita Award. He was awarded the Paul Harris Rotarian Fellowship Award for outstanding service to the community.

Since his retirement, Percy has documented the history of entertainment in the 20th Century with his autobiography Just the Ticket which was published by Jonathan Ball in 1997 and he recorded this history in a 43 half-hour series which was broadcast in 2003/2004. He also has written extensively on great figures of the South African Theatre.

“Thank you to all the loyal staff, many of whom have passed on, who helped create this service which today is operated by Shoprite/Checkers,” says Computicket.