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New Turing Exhibition Opened at Bletchley Park

Family and colleagues of Alan Turing gathered together on the 5th of March to celebrate the official opening of ‘The Life and Works of Alan Turing’ at Bletchley Park. The exhibition, in Block ‘B’, is part of an ongoing development and contains a host of new memorabilia that was secured by previous director Simon Greenish and Sue Black – among others – and was opened by BBC presenter James May. Google stumped up £100,000 to buy the collection and the rest was raised by private donations.
 
Whilst preparing to cut the red tape, May recognised the mistreatment that Turing was forced to undergo after he left Bletchley. In a moving tribute, Captain Jerry Roberts, a wartime codebreaker and colleague of Alan Turing explained that Britain was facing defeat in 1941 and stated that his first codebreaking machine intercepted 75% of the Nazi’s naval bombing campaigns. He was unequivocal in his assertion that victory would have been impossible without Turing’s contribution.
 
On a more personal level, Turing’s niece Janet Robinson talked warmly of his generosity towards his extended family – in spite of the austere background in which he grew up. Nephew Sir John Dermot Turing welcomed the new exhibition and expressed hope that it would increase understanding of a character too often misunderstood as eccentric and a little ‘weird’ when he was generous and caring.
 
Among the many artefacts, the teddy bear Alan Turing gave to his niece had pride of place. Artist Stephen Kettle was there to talk about his slate statue of Alan, sitting down and looking hard at work before the background of his office.
 
Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, will host the LGBT History Month 2013 Pre-Launch, which will take place on November 15th, 2012.
 
To see the opening from ITV1 Anglia go here