The Imitation Game

Sunday, March 13, 2016
Olney, England, United Kingdom
We awoke to thick fog this morning. They said that in some parts visibility was down to 30 metres. At least for the last few days there has been no rain. Scotland is even supposed to reach 14 degrees today. After a yummy brekky at the hotel, we set off the 10klms to Bletchley Park. This place was a national secret from 1938 when the government purchased (acquisitioned) the large home on this estate. It was chosen because it was a distance from London to protect it from the upcoming war. It was designed as a code-breaking place from the start and employed a few hundred people who worked on the ground floor of the house. When war broke out Bletchley Park expanded and at its peak employed 8000 people. Each one had to sign secrecy papers and apparently kept the secret forever! When the developers came through in 1992 and were going to bulldoze the entire site for housing, they finally discovered what had gone on here more than 50 years earlier and the site was saved. Since then they have done extensive renovations and all the huts around have been returned to their original condition. There are two rooms in the house that have been dedicated to the movie, the Imitation Game. The original Christopher is in these rooms plus clothing and props from the movie. Very interesting stuff. After wandering through all the huts, including Hut 8 which was where Alan Turing has his office and the cryptographers broke enigma, we went into Block B which was a museum that housed the rebuilt Bombe. This was the first foray into the wonderful world of what we now know as our modern computers. After a long explanation of how it worked, of which I understood about 10% the guide showed us how it worked. This Bombe is the only operational one in the world.There were over 200 built during the war but all were dismantled so the secret of how it worked wouldn't be leaked to the enemy.

The day had turned lovely with the fog vanishing so we headed off for Olney and Michele's house . We left the boys watching rugby and went for a long walk through the lovely little village. This village church is where John Newton is buried. He is the man who wrote Amazing Grace. He was the pastor of the local church for several years. After a lovely day we will say farewell to England tomorrow and head off to France.
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