Bletchley Girls

[Gwendoline Francis]

Shame the Crown Public housel is no longer there. It should have been kept as a tribute to Alan Turing's stay there.
OK, films are ok as a reminder of his genius, but  is that all there is as a reminder of his bad treatment by the government.
I just can't picture Benedict Cumberbatch as AT in the new film which has just been released over here.

[Flattybasher9]

"The Russians were never told about Colossus & although 4 were destroyed 2 were kept I believe into the 1960's."

Considering what Albert Small did for the Americans regarding the Colossus, do you really think that the Russians did not also have an insider. One has just to remember The Manhattan Project and what information the Russians had regarding that.

Regards

Malky

[Malcolm33]

I lived in Harrow during the last years of the war, so that far from Bletchley.

 
   I started secondary school in September 1944 at Boy's High School, Sheepcote Road, Harrow and had to cycle from Pinner/Rayners Lane - 2.7 miles uphill most of the way, and home for lunch.  If you went to Headstone Lane we might have some mutual friends.   My late brother-in-law was a WO at RAF Stanmore which is right next to Bletchley, around that time.

[Gwendoline Francis]

Yes indeed Malcolm, since we are both in the same age bracket & lived in the same area could be coincidental that we might know someone or the other.

My parents moved to the Headstone Lane council estate right after the war about 1946 I believe.
A lovely area which was like living in  the country for me after London living. Most on the council estate were bombed out Londoners & a bit rough around the edges I suppose.

When I was about fourteen, I got a part time job at Boots chemist in Raynors Lane. I also remember cycling to work by way of North Harrow. Rayners Lane was always the worst part of the journey, very hilly.

Those were the days, how I ended up in the U.S., has been a disaster, but I didn't know it then.
Nice chatting Malcolm

[alisdair810]

My Aunt was one of the girls and still going strong (if a little slower) at 92. She kept her secret. At first when she told us it meant nothing as we had no notion of the importance of the operation. One of the earliest publications had a cover showing a silhouette of Churchill visiting a working hut. My aunt immediately recognised her colleague who worked opposite and the realised the other figure was herself. This shot was a still from a colourised film recently shown on television on "World War II in colour". I am delighted the work of this whole team is at last being recognised not just in the UK but the world over.

[Gwendoline Francis]

Bravo to your Auntie, I admire all those girls who did so much for the war effort. I also watch WW2 in colour, I must look for that section of the film. 

[alisdair810]

The Bletchley Circle series highlighted the many talents and abilities of the girls and women who worked there. There were an awful lot of very clever talented dedicated serious minded people working long hard hours under immense pressure. Not just the genius of Mr Turing and the senior team!

[Gwendoline Francis]

They all did their bit I am sure, but without Alan Turing, perhaps a different story as to winning the war.

My shock & dismay was how he was treated because of his sexuality, after all, not that long ago. I wonder when the law was changed. Think how many gay men at that time had to stay in the closet, or was there such a thing as just an old bachelor who never married.

[trystan]

We visited Bletchley Park last year, and whilst we were there I also got a couple of slim books there on the Enigma (and decoding it). The visit was so incredibly interesting. From the information I gleaned there (and those books) I even wrote a program to emulate the Enigma itself which was really fun to do.

Anyhow after much anticipation, we watched the "Imitation Game" last night on DVD. I was really looking forward to seeing it, as I had wanted to watch it in the cinema (but missed it).

The acting was great. The cinematography was brilliant. The sound was really good. Unfortunately it bore little to historic fact. A really interesting and entertaining film - but unfortunately it was only entertainment.

A brilliant man, but so were the nine thousand of men and women who worked at Bletchley.

No mention of Tommy Flowers or any other of the other greats. Their contribution was absolutely colossal.

Alan Turing's "Bombe" (in the film called 'Christopher' for some bizarre reason) could not decrypt any of the high  level Natzi communication 'Lorenz' traffic. It as completely useless for that.

The Colossus computer designed and built by Tommy Flowers, (a General Post Office GPO engineer) could decrypt this traffic revealing this highest level strategy traffic - according to historic sources, the work of Tommy Flowers shortened  World War 2 by two years.

Yes, Alan Turing made a great contribution, but in the crown of creating the first programmable digital computer, decrypting prime strategic wartime Nazi Germany communication within the top level - that rests quite firmly on Tommy Flowers MBE .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Flowers

Trystan