Gordon Welchman

Regular readers of this blog will already know that I live about a mile from Bletchley Park - and I am both a big fan of the place (and the tremendous work that has been done there to save, then turn it into a first class place to visit (I thought of using the term - 'museum', which it is - but that word has connotations of dry sterile exhibits - and Bletchley Park is warm, alive and engaging)) and a regular visitor. I'm reading through the many books that have been published about BP - some by the key players themselves.

Tomorrow evening (Monday 7th September), BBC2 are broadcasting - "Bletchley Park: Code-Breaking's Forgotten Genius". It's not about Alan Turing - who, we have come to understand in recent years - played a, once over-looked, key role in code-breaking, Mathematics and the development of computing. Instead it is about another of the fascinating characters who were brought together in Bletchley Park - Gordon Welchman.

Welchman too was a mathematician - and in 1950 he wrote a book, "Introduction to Algebraic Geometry". The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (in a piece written by the son of the Head of BP)  recognises that "he made a SIGNIFICANT contribution to the solving of the Enigma machine cipher...he instinctively grasped a whole range of problems, possibilities, and solutions which included two vital mathematical constructs as well as a concept of the total process required, from the intercepted German ciphered traffic to passing on significant intelligence implications to the commanders in the field...the task of converting the original breakthrough into an efficient user of the material was one for which Welchman should receive much of the credit"

While Turing headed up Hut 8 (which dealt with naval codebreaking), Welchman headed up Hut 6 (army and air force codebreaking) .

I'm looking forward to the programme - I hope you do too (and tell your friends)

There are some good books available -

By Welchman himself -


and

Alan Turing

In my post yesterday, I wrote that I had to go to Bletchley. Well, it's not that far for me - Bletchley is now part of Milton Keynes - and I can walk to Bletchley Park in much less than an hour. During World War Two, the parish in which I live, was home to Alan Turing. He cycled in to Bletchley Park - and the old Shenley Road passes through Furzton. In fact there was a lesser used route, which he may well have used - which passed yards from my home.

The Inn is now a private home - but, if you know what you are looking for, the building is quite obvious.

I took this photo on Friday of his teddy bear "Porgy", which - it is reputed - Turing would practice his lectures at Cambridge in front of.

Alan Turing

This Saturday will be the centenary of the birth of Alan Turing. His significance (for Mathematics; Computing and the winning of World War II) is great - and has been internationally recognised in recent years. (President Obama has often mentioned him).
...and most days he cycled through Furzton (where I now live) on his way to Bletchley Park. Between 4 September 1939 and the summer of 1944, he lodged at The Crown Inn, at Shenley Brook End (It is now a private home). Ronald Lewin has written

"in the first week of June each year he would get a bad attack of hay fever, and he would cycle to the office wearing a service gas mask to keep the pollen off. His bicycle had a fault: the chain would come off at regular intervals. Instead of having it mended he would count the number of times the pedals went round and would get off the bicycle in time to adjust the chain by hand." He is also reputed to have "occasionally ran the 40 miles to London when he was needed for high-level meetings" (he was a talented long distance runner - he also qualified for the 1948 Olympics!).

The most intriguing story is of his silver bars. "In 1940 he buried some silver bars near Shenley. In 1944, 1946 and 1952 he tried to find them and failed. No-one knows what happened to his buried treasure!" As the Shenley Road runs through Furzton - it might be that the silver bars still lie within Furzton! Perhaps another reason why (when the ground has stopped being waterlogged) I should be digging in my back garden.

(for an earlier post - and video on Bletchley Park go to http://washminster.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/special-relationship.html)

Alan Turing

Alan Turing worked during the war at Bletchley Park - a short biography and details of the memorial at Beltchley Park can be found here.

The cententary site can be accessed here.

Milton Keynes

This post's home is now Milton Keynes - though previously it was in Rugby (2007 to April 2009). As I mentioned yesterday it has also been written in the Palace of Westminster, Washington DC and various other places I have visited. Thanks to mobile technology some posts have even been written on a bus or train.

My home in Milton Keynes is in Britain's "New City". A little over 40 years ago the whole of this area was an obscure part of Buckinghamshire. There were four main towns - Wolverton, Stony Stratford, Bletchley and Newport Pagnell. Also there were a number of small, rural villages - of which one was called "Milton Keynes". I live in the parish of "Shenley Brook End" - once a village that was the wartime home of Alan Turing, the genius who was one of the codebreakers at Bletchley Park (which is very close to Bletchley Railway Station - a video of a visit former Congressman Bob Carr and I made to BP can be viewed here). My "estate" is called Furzton - but if the name conjures up images of dreary, uniform rows of terraced housing - you'd get a completely false idea. Like the rest of the grid area of Milton Keynes - the 'estates' have lots of variety and green areas. A particular attraction of Furzton is its lake. I walk round it most days. It is teeming with wildlife, particularly birds. Earlier this month I made this slideshow of my walk



The city has one large railway station - Milton Keynes Central - as well as smaller stations at Wolverton (which has just begun a major rebuilding) and Bletchley. A coachway close to the M1 Jnt 14 links MK to many cities across the UK.

The major employers in the city are listed here (note that Abbey National is now Santander). It is the home of the Open University - an incredible institution which has produced, and continues to provide first class opportunities for study. My parents both studied (at home in Walsall) through the OU, getting the chance for a degree which they were denied earlier in their lives. I grew up as a teenager in a study atmosphere where they followed their OU courses as I did my school studies. Both my wife and I are associate lecturers - and our daughter is about to start working at Walton Hall. As an academic I make extensive use of their online library - as well as frequently visiting the physical library. In line with their philosophy of being Open, many of their resources are available beyond the student community - much excellent material broadcast by the BBC is actually made with the OU - for example "Coast", and there is an extensive website called "Open Learn"

There is a lot more about the city at the MK Web site.

One word on terminology. Legal "city status" is granted by the Monarch by letters patent. (further details here). In that sense Milton Keynes is not a city. However, this represents a wholly outdated and inappropriate view of what makes a city. Milton Keynes is applying for "city status", an application that I think should be boycotted. Milton Keynes IS already a city - it is its citizens, the community who live in the area, who make it a city. It is not an "honour" to be granted by some un-elected individual who has her position not on merit or the free choice of her "subjects" (another term I have problems with - can I recommend Thomas Paine's excellent "Common Sense" on the absurdity of a hereditary Head of State).

So that's a little about the city in which I live - and one I am happy to remain in!