Last night, Bloxham welcomed Tom Briggs to speak to some of our students, parents, OBs, local school students and village members about the important role played by Bletchley Park during the Second World War.
Tom’s talk began with some fascinating background information of Bletchley Park, including how it became such a pivotal factor in codebreaking during the Second World War. He also gave the audience an insight into what life working at Bletchley would have been like for the 10,000 or so employees.
Tom then went on to explain some of the mathematics behind codebreaking, focusing on the success of the Enigma machine, which finally managed to crack the Germans’ code. He even brought with him a genuine Enigma machine that was actually used during the Second World War and it was truly incredible to think that that very machine had been used by some of those brave people who devoted their whole lives to breaking Enigma during the War.
At the end of the talk, there was an opportunity for the audience to put forward their own questions, and even to have a try on the machine themselves. We would like to thank Tom for such an entertaining talk, as well as all those who came along to support the event.