Hi Bart

Nice piece. I was actually born in Bletchley a stone's throw from Bletchley Park. I also lived and grew up about a mile away from 1972 - 1993.

My dad worked there from the 1970s to early 1990s when it was a GPO - then British Telecom - then BT - training centre. I have many fond memories of spending weekends in the grounds and hanging out in the mansion and other facilities. Back then, the extent of the work undertaken in WWII was still mostly vague and was only coming out in dribs and drabs. As a youngster I had no idea what had gone on there, and my dad and his colleagues didn't know much more either.

Once BT moved out to more modern facilities in the early 90s, sadly much of the Park was demolished. There are great areas of space that I remember as having buildings and huts dating from the war. Only then did the movement to preserve the history of the Park take off, and luckily what now remains was saved. My father, having retired and left BT, became actively involved with the museum. He became one of the guides who showed visitors around and took great pride in his job and in recounting the great work undertaken there during the war.

Sadly, my dad died in 2005, but I know he would be very pleased with the apology from Gordon Brown. He too was upset that Alan Turing was treated in such an abysmal way and deserved to be treated better.

The one thing that made the work at Bletchley Park so successful - the total secrecy maintained by all involved - also led to the death of Alan; nobody was able to speak up for him and defend this genius.

The BBC did a radio documentary caled "What if..." in which they speculated how the war would have gone if the work at Bletchley Park had been found out by the Germans. My dad is in it at the end (Mac Hobley) talking about the computers. If you're interested have a listen, it's well worth it: