The tiny device used a simplified form of handwriting recognition to let busy executives jot down important notes and telephone numbers.

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Having grown up on the White City estate in the shadow of BBC Television Centre in west London, and working for the corporation as a messenger, Mr George went on to hang around its offices, keeping notes of telephone numbers and picking up copies of the staff magazine, Ariel, the prosecution said.

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He also said it had "reviewed all consumer call notes, and received no reports of illness, " on its 800 telephone number.

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