
RIP Captain Jerry Roberts – Bletchley Park Codebreaker - ColinWright
http://unbound.co.uk/books/saving-bletchley-park/updates/rip-captain-jerry-roberts-bletchley-park-codebreaker?utm_medium=email&utm_source=transactional&utm_campaign=project_mailer%3Anew_update_alert%3ARIP+Captain+Jerry+Roberts+-+Bletchley+Park+Codebreaker
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cpcallen
By chance I happened to meet Captain Jerry Roberts while looking for a room
some years ago: their garden (basement) flat in Pimlico had a spare room in
what had originally been a cellar under the pavement (sidewalk) in front of
the house, which they rented out.

I decided the nearly windowless room was a little dark and dank for my liking,
but both he and his wife were very pleasant and it was certainly the most
interesting of the many visits to different properties I made at the time.

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minimax
Note for visitors to London from abroad: It's super easy to get to Bletchley
Park from London. I think it took me something like 90 minutes total to get
from my hotel in central London to Bletchley park on the train. The staff is
well informed and very helpful. They have working replicas of the bombe and
colossus machines. It's all very cool. Highly recommended if you have half a
day to kill in London.

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aardvark179
They're also building a replica EDSAC. [http://www.tnmoc.org/special-
projects/edsac](http://www.tnmoc.org/special-projects/edsac)

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Dale1
[http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/](http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/) Is the
website too.

Like has been said it's easy to get to and worth the trip if you're into the
history of computer science.

I went a year ago and it was very inspirational and the perfect antidote to
startup BS and all that NSA stuff. Around the time i went i was reading a book
about the history of cryptography and it was great linking everything
together!

It's just a shame Alan was treated the way he was although the letter from
Gordon Brown PM in the main museum is definitely worth a look for any LGBT
history guru!

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at-fates-hands
What was the name of the book you were reading?

One of the better books I read was by David Kahn "The Codebreakers: The Story
of Secret Writing"

I love cryptography and am always looking for good books on the subject.

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willvarfar
The Code Book by Simon Singh is one of the best intros, I think.

It covers a lot more than Bletchley, but it gives Bletchley really good
coverage and context.

A friend of mine built an enigma machine based on the description and wiring
diagrams in the book:
[http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/19946053957/enigm...](http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/19946053957/enigma-
spreadsheet)

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campuscodi
I've just finished reading Connie Willis' "Blackout/All Clear" novels, and I'm
very sad there are fewer and fewer people from that age still around. As you
can see today, almost all of us have forget the lessons learned from that war
and some countries are starting to behave like just before WW2 nowadays.

