April 2020 

 

2017 was the centenary of a relatively little-known genius who went straight from studying mathematics at Cambridge to codebreaking for the Government Code and Cypher School. The crucial role that Bill Tutte played in the attack on the system used by Hitler and his high command, Lorenz, not only broke it but also helped paved the way for the creation of the world’s first large-scale electronic digital computer, Colossus.

 

Finally Bill received the recognition he so richly deserved with a BBC Documentary, an exhibition at Bletchley Park and, on the day of his centenary, a symposium of talks about his life and work.

 

Here for the first time we can bring you, instead of just highlights, the entire talk and Q&A session from GCHQ’s shortly to retire Departmental Historian, Tony Comer. In his talk Tony looked at the fundamental changes that had happened at GC&CS to allow Bill Tutte to carry out his breath-taking achievements.

 

We have also included again the interview we recorded at The National Arboretum in 2019 with Tony. It was an opportunity to look back at his career and to exclusively introduce his replacement to the world.

 

Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2020

 

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