Bletchley Park Are Putting Their Stamp on the Alan Turing Centenary Year
Each of the four covers will display the 1st class Royal Mail “Turing Bombe” stamp which forms part of the Royal Mail's "Britons of Distinction" issue being released on 23rd February 2012. Each cover will have the stamp cancelled by a unique Bletchley Park first day of issue postmark and we understand the plan is to limit cover production to just 500 of each.
The first day covers are being produced in association with the Alan Turing Centenary Year Committee and Bletchley Park Post Office. Proceeds from the cover sales will be used to support the preservation of Bletchley Park. Keen interest in these covers is expected as previous similar stamp and cover combinations issued by Bletchley Park Post Office have gone on to fetch several times their original issue price when traded by collectors.
The first cover design will display artwork by Rebecca Peacock of Firecatcher Design. It highlights Turing’s work with mathematics and associated mathematical patterns. It was Alan Turing’s genius for mathematics that made his work so vital to Bletchley Park and the development of modern computing.
The other three covers will all feature original paintings by artist Steve Williams who has kindly donated his work to Bletchley Park. They depict three buildings at Bletchley Park associated with Alan Turing namely the cottage and hut where he worked and the room which housed the incredible Bombe machines. The Royal Mail stamp will feature an image of a rebuilt Turing Bombe. The first day of issue postmark design is a facsimile of one of the Bombe’s 36 rotor wheels.
A dedicated team spent 15 years rebuilding the working Turing Bombe that is now publicly displayed at Bletchley Park. A marvel of electro-mechanical engineering used to crack the German enigma code is now essential viewing for visitors. Bletchley Park Post Office was the code breakers’ undercover mail room during World War II and later became a sub post office when Bletchley Park was retasked as a GPO training centre. Today it is a re-creation of a 1940’s post office and popular attraction which started to issue first day covers and special stamps in 1994. These are now sought after by collectors in the UK and around the world.
At £9.99 each, these four little pieces of art and history will undoubtedly interest and, perhaps, prove a collectable investment too.
Preview's of the covers and advance ordering are available at BletchleyCovers.com.
About Alan Turing
Alan Turing was born in London on 23rd June 1912. Son of an Indian Civil Servant, Turing and his brother grew up staying with friends and relatives in England. Turing later studied mathematics at Cambridge University and subsequently went on to teach there, specialising in the emerging science of quantum mechanics. It was at Cambridge that Turing developed the proof which states automatic computation cannot solve all mathematical problems. This conceptual work, also known as the Turing machine, is acknowledged by many to be the visonary basis of the modern theory of computation.
Turing attended Princeton University in America in 1936 before returning to England in 1938 to start work part-time for the ultra secret British cryptanalytic department of the Government Code and Cypher School. Following the outbreak of war he began full-time work at its Bletchley Park HQ. His work at Bletchley Park played a vital role in the war by deciphering enemy messages encrypted by the Enigma machine. Breaking the enigma code produced vital intelligence for the Allies which, as many historians now acknowledge, contributed significantly to the eventual Allied success.
Known for his eccentric behaviour at Bletchley Park, Turing most famously led the design team for the "Bombe", a machine which went on to successfully decode German messages at speeds previously unimaginable.
Following the war Turing focused his thoughts on developing a machine to logically process information while working for the National Physical Laboratory until 1948. His plans were dismissed by his colleagues at the time and, with hindsight, the lab would realise they lost out on being the first to design a digital computer. It is thought that Turing's blueprint would have secured them the honour, as his machine was capable of computation speeds higher than others under development at the time. In 1949 he began directing the computing laboratory producing work that helped form the foundations of the field now known as artificial intelligence. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1951.
In 1952, having reported a burglary to the police, Turing made no secret of his homosexual relationship with the person he suspected of the crime. As a result of his honesty about his sexuality, Turning was arrested and tried for "Gross Indecency". To avoid serving time in prison, Turing accepted treatment by injections of oestrogen for a year. Often labelled "Chemical Castration", the intention of the treatment was to neutralise his libido but it also had serious other side effects. This took place in an era when homosexual people were routinely considered a security risk by leaving themselves open to blackmail.
Alan Turing's security clearance was withdrawn meaning he could no longer work for the Goverment Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) - the post-war successor to Bletchley Park - and he committed suicide on 7th June 1954.
In 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in the Telegraph newspaper, saying: "While Mr Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him."
A campaign continues to this day - including an online petition of the UK Government - seeking a pardon for Alan Turing.
GB Stamp Home Page More GB Stamp Articles
