Bletchley Park

On New Years Eve we drove to Bletchley Park, where mathematicians and codebreakers worked during WWII, endeavouring to decipher German radiosignals, containing information crucial to the fate of the war. The Nazi forces had a special device known as enigma, that enciphered messages, that could theoretically only be deciphered if you had another enigma machine operating on the same settings. It was supposed to be unbreakable. However, using complex mathematics, ingenious techniques, and the world's first reprogrammable computer, Bletchley Park managed to crack the ciphers. Today, researchers estimate that if it wasn't for the men and women working at Bletchley Park, the war would have continued for two more years, and claimed 14 million more lives. Additionally, the machines designed at Bletchley to crack the ciphers developed into the computers of  today.

Us at Bletchley Park

At BP we visited the mansion, the museum, and the Huts where the codebreakers worked. My favourite part was the huts, I loved learning about the history of the place, and the people that lived there. All the rooms of Huts 1 and 6 were reconstructed to look like they would have during the war. Hut 8, where the designers of the reprogramable computer worked was full of interactive activities about how the people at Bletchley broke the German messages. Bletchley was a great place to visit, and I learnt a lot there.