Thought For The Day – Friday 23^rd June 2023

Today is the birthday of computer scientist and mathematician Alan Turing.

Alan Turing, and his team of codebreakers,  achieved the impossible at Bletchley Park in the Second World War. The odds on the success of their work were calculated as 158,962,555,217,826,360,000 to 1.

By building a code-breaking machine against Nazi evil, Mr. Turing, and his team of all sexes and genders, who were all equally important, played a key part in the Second World War and, in turn, effectively founded the modern computer we also all benefit from today.

In this LGBT+ Pride Month we celebrate the fact that Mr. Turing was gay.

At the time, Mr. Turing suffered prejudice, discrimination, persecution and abuse for his sexuality.

Alan Turing, voted the greatest icon of the 20th century in a BBC series of 2019,  also features on the £50 note.  The film “The Imitation Game” dramatizes Mr. Turing’s work.

We can be very proud that our school features a building named after Alan Turing.

Today we also remember our former Headteacher, Mr. Ian Shaw, who passed away in 2019.

Mr. Shaw’s wife, daughter and son featured a reading about Mr. Turing in Mr. Shaw’s Memorial Service at St. Michael’s Church, which took place four years ago tomorrow.

Mr. Shaw, a historian, passed away on March 18th,  the day that Alan Turing’s code-breaking machine was installed at Bletchley Park.

Mr. Shaw, who enjoyed visiting the museum at Bletchley, was born on June 23rd, just as Alan Turing was born on June 23^rd.