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by jgrahamc 5365 days ago
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.
2 comments
arethuza 5365 days ago
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.
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tommorris 5365 days ago
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.
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bmunro 5365 days ago
I had to look up the Fourth Plinth.

It is an empty statue base in Trafalgar Square, London. It is presently used for temporary displays of artworks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_plinth,_Trafalgar_Square

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