Remix.run Logo
linsomniac 3 days ago

Somewhat unrelated: I'm hoping to go to Bletchley Park this summer, any recommendations?

cjs_ac 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

The main 'Bletchley Park' exhibition is good, but it focuses on the human experience of the code breakers. Head around the corner from the car park to the National Museum of Computing (also on the Bletchley Park site) to see more technical exhibitions: they give proper demonstrations of the machines invented at Bletchley, as well as the oldest working computer in the world (which was computing prime numbers when I visited).

https://www.tnmoc.org/

tialaramex 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Also, and not obvious, because these two entities are distinct despite occupying the same site: they're not always open at the same time. So if you want to see both, even if you plan to spend more time at one than the other, check they're both open.

Whether something is the first computer is - inevitably - a definitional argument, but TNMOC has several candidates (though not all of them) including (a modern reproduction of, the original was destroyed as a secret) Colossus which is famous because of its involvement in the war.

Bletchley Park is also still an actual stateley home, all the war stuff was built on somebody's grounds - there's a good chance you either don't care about stately homes or you're intending to visit a more interesting one (or indeed one of the Royal Palaces), in which case no need to care, but that's a third distinct thing on the same site.

[Edited to make clear there is no original Colossus, we destroyed it because it was a secret]

xnorswap 2 days ago | parent [-]

We have a few such odd arrangements, such as the "London Bus Museum", which isn't in London but is in fact entirely within a completely different museum, the Brooklands museum.

Operationally independent, although they have been considerate enough to synchronise their opening hours.

If you're interested in London Buses however, I'd actually recommend the (also unrelated) London Transport Museum, as this one is located in the tourist heart of central London in Covent Garden.

( NB: Brooklands is itself a great museum, but more for the aviation history )

tialaramex 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Although the London Transport Museum is fun (some years back I decided to spend a week in my own capital city as a tourist, staying in a hotel in the centre, all day looking at stuff with tourists - and LTM is one of the things I decided to do) like most museums it does have a lot of stuff it can't display - but unlike most museums those things are sometimes huge like a bunch of buses, so they're not in a back room they're an entire other site, in Acton IIRC, the Depot, which is in fact open this weekend: https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/depot-open-days

AlecSchueler 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Is Brooklands the place where the corner at the Silverstone racing circuit is named after? It's also known for its aviation history of course.

369548684892826 2 days ago | parent [-]

Yes, there was a race track at Brooklands. Some sections of it are still there including some steep banked track.

whyage 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I wouldn't skip the main exhibition area. In an era where people were called computers, the human experience was at the heart of the Bletchley Park machine. In the main area, you learn about the makeup of this apparatus: the different roles people had, how information flowed within and between the huts, and much more. There's also a little museum with fascinating artifacts and an area dedicated to Turing. Don't miss it.

hermitcrab 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Agreed, it is well worth visiting both.

icosian 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I don't know if they are still in print but Bletchley Park Trust published a great series of monographs on particular aspects of the codebreaking story there. Highly technical, written by specialists, sometimes by people who had worked there. I picked up a load of them when I was there and can recommend.

easterncalculus 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Definitely enjoy the scenery. I've done Bletchley and the National Cryptologic Museum, the former is in a genuinely beautiful location, especially if you have sun.

nemo44x 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They have a neat computer history museum there so make time for that too.

7373737373 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

This book, written by the man who created and ran the organization responsible for distributing the decrypted messages to political and military leaders: https://archive.org/details/ultrasecret00wint/

Really shows the extent and impact of this knowledge - they virtually sat at the same table as the Nazi high command.