Brit academics call for Bletchley Park funding
A group of esteemed British scientists and academics have sent an open letter calling on the British government to give more financial support to Bletchley Park, the site of the Allied WWII codebreaking effort and the birthplace of modern computing.
Link (Thanks to Amanda and all the other people who suggested this!)
They say Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, should be put on a secure financial basis like other "great museums"...Many of the buildings on the Bletchley estate were in a state of serious disrepair, she said. One building, where code-breakers worked during World War II, was falling apart, said Dr Black, and was protected by a blue tarpaulin that was nailed down over it.
Describing Bletchley as a "gem", Dr Black said it was a "national disgrace" that such a historic site was being allowed to fall into ruin.
"I do not know why they do not have funding as a national museum," she said.
See also: Bletchley Park kicks so much ass
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They should make Bletchley Park part of either the Science Museum, or the Imperial War Museum, both of which are excellent institutions, and both would do a great job of presenting the material and the site well, although with an obvious difference in viewpoint.
There's a petition for state funding for Bletchley Park at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BletchleyPark/: 6,200 signatures so far. Sign it!
Good for them. I hope to see it one day.
don't know if you all heard it today but there was a report on BBC about it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7523000/7523038.stm
good opportunity for that young, gay computer science Turing scholarship.
Surely the Heritage Lottery Fund could through a few million at it.
good opportunity for that young, gay computer science Turing scholarship.
And force me to watch another bad romantic comedy about a straight guy who pretends to be gay in order to get some benefit?
typical genitocentric womyn oppresor
Thanks for posting about this, and for the great post all about visiting Bletchley. My granny worked there during the war, probably due to her crossword skills and I hope to visit it one day.
@Absent: If I remember correctly, the Heritage Lottery turned them down because they were ineligible.
Just finishing up my first read of Cryptonomicon, so this post is, as the kittehs say, relevant to my interests.
Could someone recommend a really good biography of Turing?
Zippy -
'Alan Turing: The Enigma' by Andrew Hodges. About 500 pages. Get the UK version if you can find it. There's an Americanized paperback with the same text but without references and source notes.