Bletchley Park

Coach trip to Bletchley Park today.  It was a long day but a brilliant place, full of memories of brilliant men and women.  The blip is of a "bombe", the code-breaking machine used to break the Enigma code used by the German's in WW2.  I have only a very basic understanding of the logic - apparently the messages often contained the same string of coded letters, eg the German equivalent of "nothing to report" or "Heil Hitler". The bombes could zip through looking for patterns, rather like strings of DNA.

The above machine was reconstructed for the filming of "The Imitation Game", and the extra is of one of the rooms in the beautifully preserved mansion which was the nerve centre of operations.

If you are anywhere within reach, do visit. There is a station nearby, and the ticket is valid for a year.