  The first work of Dyson relating to random matrix theory, "The dynamics of a
disordered linear chain", is reviewed. Contained in this work is an exact
solution of a so-called Type I chain in the case of the disorder variables
being given by a gamma distribution. The exact solution exhibits a singularity
in the density of states about the origin, which has since been shown to be
universal for one-dimensional tight binding models with off diagonal disorder.
We discuss this context and also point out some universal features of the weak
disorder expansion of the exact solution near the band edge. Further, a link
between the exact solution, and a tridiagonal formalism of anti symmetric
Gaussian $\beta$-ensembles with $\beta$ proportional to $1/N$, is made.
