Professor Steve Furber has been awarded a CBE in the New Year's Honours for his work in bringing PCs into UK homes.

Professor Furber is best known for his work at Acorn Computers, where he helped to design the BBC Microcomputer in 1981.

The device became particularly successful as an educational tool, and was one of the first machines to be widely used in people's homes.

Around 1.5 million BBC Microcomputers were sold across the UK, offering the first experience of a computer for many people and allowing them to learn computer literacy and IT skills.

Professor Furber also played a leading role in the 1983 development project at Acorn which developed the ARM processor. ARM is now the world's most successful system-on-chip processor licensing company.

Both developments earned what was then the Queen's Award for Technology, and Professor Furber also received the Faraday Medal from The Institution of Engineering and Technology in September 2007 for his achievements.

Professor Furber said that he was "delighted" with the CBE and that it had come "completely out of the blue".

"I have been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to do something interesting, and have also been surrounded by very good people," he told the BBC.

Professor Furber is currently ICL Professor of Computer Engineering at Manchester's School of Computer Science, and is involved in several other projects and government initiatives.