The Liquids and Amorphous Diffractometer, LAD, was the main diffractometer for studying the structure of disordered materials at the ISIS pulsed neutron source, until its removal at the end of 1998. LAD was first installed at the Harwell Linac neutron source in 1982, making it the first ISIS diffractometer, and was subsequently moved to ISIS prior to the first production of neutrons at the end of 1984. During its lifetime LAD performed many experiments on a wide range of different structural problems, leading to about 280 scientific papers. The seventeen-year history of LAD is discussed, giving particular emphasis to the development of pulsed neutron diffraction, from its early days as a relatively new and untested technique, to its current status as a well-established major international project.