The working-class hero of Bletchley Park you didn't see in the movies
10 comments
·October 12, 2025jleyank
Like the early hackers, he made things. In Flower's case, he made things than enabled hackers (eventually). While theory is important and interesting, actually making sh*t that works moves things forward.
Yeah, he also helped shorten the war which saved a whole lot of lives.
WalterBright
The U-Boot commanders all knew that the Enigma had been cracked, but Admiral Doenitz refused to believe it.
Rommel's Afrika Korps was also defeated by Enigma, because Rommel also refused to believe it was cracked. Enigma pointed out when and where Rommel's supply ships were.
No matter how secure your encryption method is, one should always assume it is cracked. Me, I would have backed it up with one-time pads.
drcongo
Pretty sure anyone who knows even a tiny bit of Bletchley Park history is well aware of Tommy Flowers.
MattPalmer1086
He's certainly in the histories I've read, but I guess most people don't read those.
Also, his grandson often sits in front of my Mum and Dad at football matches! Although I only found that out a lot later.
hecanjog
I was under pretty much all the false impressions mentioned in the article, it was a nice introduction for me. The name comes up, but I never connected the dots.
aspenmayer
Did you ever see them or a character in their role in a movie?
ViktorRay
I don’t understand why it matters whether someone was in a movie or not.
It’s a sad commentary on western culture that being in a movie seemingly has the importance that it seems to.
Maxatar
Doesn't make much sense to say it doesn't matter and also that it's sad.
If it's sad then it matters, if it doesn't matter then it isn't sad.
aspenmayer
Art imitates life, except when it doesn’t accurately depict the lived reality and efforts of those who did the work and won the war, in which case it’s arguably closer to myth making. The original author of the James Bond series of books, for example, engaged in this kind of propaganda, arguably with good intentions and positive impact.
It’s relevant whether or not they were depicted in a movie because that is the context of this thread, because that is the topic of the fine article itself.
Bill Tutte founded the Department of Combinatorics & Optimization in 1962 at the University of Waterloo (the year I was born!). No one knew about his Bletchley Park work until 1985; later in 2001 he was awarded the Order of Canada (he passed away the following year aged 84). I was amongst the usual group of often confused undergraduates in his C&O classes ... his mind just operated on a level that few of us mere mortals could ever understand!