No Enigma at Bletchley Park
Code-breaking was vital to troop movements in the first and second world wars.
While it’s not actually Chesham, and it does involve using the car, Bletchley Park is a close attraction for a great day out. It takes less than an hour to get there, admission is £10 for adults, £8 senior, £6 for 12 – 16 year olds and under 12s go free. Plus you get a passport for a whole year.
Kept secret for years after World War II (1939 – 45) Bletchley Park was the site of British code-breaking activities and the birthplace of the modern computer.
The grounds are delightful and you can take a picnic or eat in the canteen which serves good food and with its lino floor, wooden chairs and wartime posters such as “careless talk costs lives”, really evokes the era. I like the slightly scruffy condition of the huts, presumably just as they’d have looked years ago. Indeed the laid-back approach of the Trust and Friends of the Bletchley Park National Codes Centre, makes this visit a treat compared to the slick, safety-conscious, almost theatre-set venues we encounter today. The original mansion is not scruffy and can be hired for weddings etc.
Alan Turing was the inspirational mathematician at the heart of Bletchley Park’s code-breaking successes, and his lifelike statue sculptured by Stephen Kettle from nearly half a million pieces of Welsh slate is the hardest thing to keep one’s fingers off.
Turing and Welchman built the Bombe which speeded up the process of breaking into the daily Enigma keys but this was dismantled after the war for secrecy. A team of enthusiasts have rebuilt a replica Bombe machine and for the first time in 60 years the public can see what it was like to work on the noisy code-cracking machines at Bletchley Park, thanks to 12 years of dedicated work.
While it’s not actually Chesham, and it does involve using the car, Bletchley Park is a close attraction for a great day out. It takes less than an hour to get there, admission is £10 for adults, £8 senior, £6 for 12 – 16 year olds and under 12s go free. Plus you get a passport for a whole year.
Kept secret for years after World War II (1939 – 45) Bletchley Park was the site of British code-breaking activities and the birthplace of the modern computer.
The grounds are delightful and you can take a picnic or eat in the canteen which serves good food and with its lino floor, wooden chairs and wartime posters such as “careless talk costs lives”, really evokes the era. I like the slightly scruffy condition of the huts, presumably just as they’d have looked years ago. Indeed the laid-back approach of the Trust and Friends of the Bletchley Park National Codes Centre, makes this visit a treat compared to the slick, safety-conscious, almost theatre-set venues we encounter today. The original mansion is not scruffy and can be hired for weddings etc.
Alan Turing was the inspirational mathematician at the heart of Bletchley Park’s code-breaking successes, and his lifelike statue sculptured by Stephen Kettle from nearly half a million pieces of Welsh slate is the hardest thing to keep one’s fingers off.
Turing and Welchman built the Bombe which speeded up the process of breaking into the daily Enigma keys but this was dismantled after the war for secrecy. A team of enthusiasts have rebuilt a replica Bombe machine and for the first time in 60 years the public can see what it was like to work on the noisy code-cracking machines at Bletchley Park, thanks to 12 years of dedicated work.
There is so much to see* and the enthusiasm of the guides brings it all to light. We were lucky that Tony Sale himself, the leading light behind the recreation team, spoke to us. His brain must be as good as Turing’s. Tony Sale and colleagues have now built a replica of the Colossus computer used to break the codes of messages sent by Lorenz teleprinters later in the second World War. Bletchley Park is at Sherwood Drive, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Bucks MK3 6EB, Visit http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/ and http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/.
(*There is climbing apparatus for young children but perhaps not a lot to interest them on the tours).
(*There is climbing apparatus for young children but perhaps not a lot to interest them on the tours).
Labels: Entertainment, History
posted by Merrin at
22:35
