RIP Brian Wynne Oakley: Saviour of Bletchley Park Brian Wynne Oakley has died aged 85. According to the Real Time Club, of which Oakley was a chairman, he "enjoyed a very distinguished career playing a major role in the development of computing both in the UK and in Europe". Oakley was rarity: a civil servant who grasped the significance of information technology for the …
I went with my son to Bletchley Park this summer and it was actually quite good :) We saw a great demonstration of a Bombe machine and plenty of models and wartime toy collections, including a scale submarine in the entrance roadway.
We arrived around lunchtime, so unfortunately didn't have time to see Colossus or the National Museum of Computing, but entry tickets can be used as often as desired for 1 year from purchase (Colossus and NMoC are extra however)
To top it off, the gift shop was relatively tat free and well stocked with books. They also have an Enigma kit for a hundred and twenty quid with which you can construct a working replica.
All in all, worth the visit and as a bonus, you can go back anytime with that ticket. Bear in mind that Colossus is only viewable at certain times/days, so check before visiting if you want to see that.
So if nothing else, a great legacy, cheers Mr Oakley.
I was unaware of the plan to dig it up Bletchley Park and transport it so far, perhaps El Reg could elaborate on this hither to unknown transportation to The Midlands.
a few miles might not be far to carry your lunch or maybe even a rucksack.. but it's a hell of a long way to take an entire stately home and estate...
You also have to wary of the phrase 'Generally Considered' this is exactly how the borders creep.. how black and white becomes grey and why everywhere outside London is 'generally considered' foreign lands..
As a real Midlands dweller I know where up north is and where down south dwells, and I know that Milton Keynes ain't round ere.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. 'Midlands' is hardly a well-defined geographical entity (though some places, such as Birmingham indisputably belong there). Where I was brought up, Manchester was definitely 'Midlands' and Sheffield was 'South'. You may find, however, that the UK and EU governments disagree with you (as does the infallible Wikipedia).
I lived there from about 1962 until 1974. I went to the grammar school which was adjacent to Bletchley Park.
Buckinghamshire is one of the "Home Counties", and not in the Midlands.
My pet peeve, nowadays thankfully corrected, was that the BBC used to always refer tot Bletchley Park as being in Hertfordshire. Possibly some hangover from war-time disinformation.
eh.. try the first link above. they do seem to tally, Northamptonshire Yes, Buckinghamshire (and hence Bletchley) No.
The Midlands, both East Midlands and West Midlands are Strictly Defined geographic entities and are definitely recognised by the EU!
Let's just try to clear this up.
1) Bletchley is in Buckinghamshire.
2) Buckinghamshire is not in the Midlands.
3) Northamptonshire is in the (East) Midlands, according to the UK government and EU (though personal interpretations may vary).
4) Bletchley is only a few miles from the Northants border (and parts of Northants are further south than Bletchley).
5) So the original article was wrong to place Bletchley in the Midlands - but it's only slightly wrong.
HTH (and sorry for the thread drift - Mr Oakley was a top man, BTW)
I don't think anyone would call Milton Keynes (and hence Bletchley) the Midlands in terms of political or geographical boundaries, but it's not far off it. There have been a number of planning documents which talk about "Milton Keynes and the South Midlands", which roughly refers to Northampton, Bedford, Milton Keynes and Luton and their surrounding areas (sometimes covering the whole of Northants and Beds), but it's certainly not a well-defined area. The local BBC television for all these areas is the East, based in Cambridge, which makes the local news rather baffling.
I've worked in MK for several years, and now live in Northampton, and it's long struck me that the whole area around MK is basically border country and has been for 1200 years back to when it was the boundary between Mercia, Wessex and the Danelaw!
Brian Oakley was also the chairman of the Quantum Computing in Europe Pathfinder Project for the European Commission which directly led to funding in the Vth Framework research programme in Europe and EPSRC funding the Quantum Information Processing Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration in the UK
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