Fake quotes
We all know about fake news, but only recently I discovered fake quotes. I was asked where Alan Turing’s famous quotation ‘Those who can imagine anything can create the impossible’ had come from. After...
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What’s in a parvis in Paris?
According to Collins-Robert (1978 edition) a ‘parvis’ is a square in front of a church. On Wednesday 25 September the ‘Parvis Alan Turing’ was officially dedicated in Paris, the result of a...
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Traveller’s tale
The French edition of X, Y and Z – the real story of how Enigma was broken was launched last month. Things are different in France: the weather is better, the bread is wonderful, and the story of...
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Dermot Turing on tour
In the Oscar-winning movie The Imitation Game, code-breaker Alan Turing battles to master the problem of the German Enigma machine. But the real story begins in the bathroom of a Belgian hotel, where...
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Of tool-boxes and ballot-boxes
My first lunch after lockdown took place in the attractive surroundings of the Ognisko Polskie restaurant in South Kensington. The sun was shining and the railways weren’t working, all of which...
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The slow death of museum exhibits
No, not another rant about the Coronavirus situation. Actually, a sparkle amid the gloom: the news that John Lennon’s piano is to be put on display at Strawberry Field in Liverpool. Apparently he...
View ArticleTea and chocs
Today a big box from Hotel Chocolat arrived, to add some sweetness to lockdown. Hoorah. But the thing is, in all the course of many trips to Brussels during the last twenty years, one thing I have...
View ArticleUnveiling Alan Turing
Today the Bank of England ‘unveiled’ the new plastic £50 note which features Alan Turing. The new design is not just a celebration of the well-known achievements of Alan Turing but gives us all a...
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Cash, Coins and Covid
On Wednesday 23 June – Alan Turing’s birthday – there was to be a Celebration of his life and legacy, at the iconic Courthouse in Knutsford where he was famously tried in 1952. The plan was to talk...
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23 into 8: a problem in mathematics
Of course 23 is a prime number, and 8 is not, but 23 into 8 sounds like it would not be a proper thing to try in any circumstances. Still, anything for a challenge. 23 June was Alan Turing’s birthday...
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