Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Bletchley Park includes the
National Museum of Computing on its grounds, where we were shown many complicated machines used to help beat the Germans during World War II. I was only really familiar with what the day would entail at Bletchley because of two reasons: I'd seen The Imitation Game previously, and for class I'd read Sinclair McKay's
The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The WWII Codebreaking Centre and the Men and Women Who Worked There. I'll attach an image of the cover at the bottom from Goodreads if anyone is interested.
This was a day I wished for brain power that far exceeded my own capabilities; we were largely overwhelmed with all the information we heard about everything the codebreakers endured to make and run these formidable machines. I'm still in awe they are still able to get these machines to work!
After lunch, we explored the rest of
Bletchley Park and strolled through the ground floor of the main house. The huts were what I remember being most interesting about McKay's book, and as we came by hut 8 I instantly remembered reading about Alan Turing's time there with his colleagues developing the Bombe that broke the Enigma.
Main house
Commander Denniston's office
Library
One of the many huts Codebreakers used to work in:
Hut 8, where Alan Turing and his colleagues worked on breaking the Enigma
Alan Turing's office
Here is McKay's book, and the
Goodreads link for more information:
