Great to see that Bletchley Park will live on, it's one of very few historical sites that have meaning to those that are interested in our digital beginnings.
Yes, I am pleased as punch. Especially since when the Alan Turing petition was successful I bent the ear of the then Prime Minister about funding Bletchley Park. Not long after a small amount of lottery funding was announced that enabled them to make the bid for this larger amount. I don't know whether that was really because of me, but it doesn't matter. This news is great.
Here's the email I sent to Downing St. summarizing the situation on September 11, 2009:
Kirsty,
As you can imagine I have an Inbox filled with
media requests and congratulatory notes from
around the world. A common theme in these
mails is a desire to see a memorial of some
kind to Alan Turing.
Three suggestions (in order of popularity):
1. Find some way to fund Bletchley Park and the
National Museum of Computing.
2. Use the Fourth Plinth for a Turing statue
3. Name the marathon at the 2012 Olympics after
Turing (he was a very good marathon runner and
it's his centenary in 2012).
All of these are good suggestions. If the government
did #1 you would have my full backing.
John.
It is bloody marvellous that they have got the money to improve the site. I triply love Bletchley Park because of: (a) The codebreakers part (b) The National Museum of Computing and (c) it is now the home of the National Radio Centre (for all the UK hams out there) and I studied to be a radio amateur there with MKARS.
I have to say, I really like the idea of using the Fourth Plinth for a statue of Turing - especially if the statue could somehow include some representation of his mathematical works.
No, what it needs is at the base of the plinth a small screen and keyboard where you get connected to either a random anonymous person on the Internet or an AI, and you have to work out which one you are speaking to.
Here's the email I sent to Downing St. summarizing the situation on September 11, 2009:
It is bloody marvellous that they have got the money to improve the site. I triply love Bletchley Park because of: (a) The codebreakers part (b) The National Museum of Computing and (c) it is now the home of the National Radio Centre (for all the UK hams out there) and I studied to be a radio amateur there with MKARS.