Hmmm... It is interesting how many years urban myths can persist.... 45 years and counting....
"In December 1968 the report on the Algorithmic language ALGOL 68 was published. On 20–24 July 1970 a working conference was arranged by the IFIP to discuss the problems of implementation of the language,[1] a small team from the Royal Radar Establishment attended to present their compiler, written by I.F. Currie, Susan G. Bond[2] and J.D. Morrison. In the face of estimates of up to 100 man-years to implement the language, using up to 7 pass compilers they described how they had already implemented a one-pass compiler which was in production use in engineering and scientific applications."
"In December 1968 the report on the Algorithmic language ALGOL 68 was published. On 20–24 July 1970 a working conference was arranged by the IFIP to discuss the problems of implementation of the language,[1] a small team from the Royal Radar Establishment attended to present their compiler, written by I.F. Currie, Susan G. Bond[2] and J.D. Morrison. In the face of estimates of up to 100 man-years to implement the language, using up to 7 pass compilers they described how they had already implemented a one-pass compiler which was in production use in engineering and scientific applications."
cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALGOL_68-R