Alan Turing – Bank of England £50 banknote

[Jellybean]

Today the Bank of England revealed the design of the new £50 banknote and feature’s the Bletchley Park WWII codebreaker Alan Turing on the reverse. It will come into circulation on June 23, 2021, which coincides with the anniversary of Turing’s birthday.

Alan Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts and accepted chemical castration treatment as an alternative to prison. He died in 1954 from cyanide poisoning. In 2013 he was granted a posthumous Royal pardon.

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New Alan Turing £50 note design is revealed

By Kevin Peachey
Personal finance correspondent, BBC News

The design of the Bank of England's new £50 note, featuring the computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing, has been revealed.

The banknote will enter circulation on 23 June, which would have been the mathematician's birthday.

It will be the last of the Bank's collection to switch from paper to polymer. In keeping with Alan Turing's work, the set is its most secure yet.

Old paper £50 notes will still be accepted in shops for some time.

Why is Alan Turing on the note?

The work of Alan Turing, who was educated in Sherborne, Dorset, helped accelerate Allied efforts to read German Naval messages enciphered with the Enigma machine. His work is said to have been key to shortening World War Two and saving lives.

Less celebrated is the pivotal role he played in the development of early computers, first at the National Physical Laboratory and later at the University of Manchester . . .

For the full article see the BBC News website:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56503741

For further information see the Bank of England website:
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news...-note-unveiled

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[cdnmatt]

Less celebrated is the pivotal role he played in the development of early computers, first at the National Physical Laboratory and later at the University of Manchester . . .

What are they talking about? Majority of people in the tech industry know what the Turing test is, and it's still in use today. Here's a fun infotainment video about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLG98G4JBc0

Nonetheless, never knew he was gay. Astounds me that they can look at someone as brilliant as him, throw all that out the window, and say he's basically sub-human due to being gay. Blows my mind...

[bkkguy]

Majority of people in the tech industry know what the Turing test is

before even getting into the understanding of this among the hoi polloi, rather than just saying [citation required] for the techies is one allowed to just refer to Wikipedia - The Turing test

Nonetheless, never knew he was gay

where have you been all your life - even the Bangkok Post included a rainbow flag in their image! anyway a good biography would help here - Alan Turing: The Enigma of Intelligence by Andrew Hodges

the book gets a bit bogged down in the maths at times but this can usually be skipped over and is generally very interesting reading, from his relationships at school then at Bletchley Park then around the world and eventually in Manchester, the movie based on it - The Imitation Game - gets a bit superficial at times but is still worth a watch

[latintopxxx]

...humans are inherently bad, evil, feral...6mil jews...population 'exchanges" between greece and turkey...india & pakistan...

[dinagam]

...humans are inherently bad, evil, feral...6mil jews...population 'exchanges" between greece and turkey...india & pakistan...

There you go again plucking figures from the air wrt to the 6mil jews... I bet the real victims are turning in their graves and hollering at the apologists... You have conveniently left out the almost total decimation of the natives of the entire length of America from the Inuits of Canada and the natives of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Chile at the hand of the invading Europeans and their sodomite priests.

[Nirish guy]

There is also a memorial to Alan Turing in Sackville Park in Manchester, which for those who don't know the area is right in the heart of the gay village there and accordingly it's well tended to and very popular for pics etc during PRIDE etc as well as throughout the rest of the year too.

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[wingnut]

There is also a memorial to Alan Turing in Sackville Park in Manchester, which for those who don't know the area is right in the heart of the gay village there and accordingly it's well tended to and very popular for pics etc during PRIDE etc as well as throughout the rest of the year too.

My post where I answered arsenal's question about what's life like for those of us who live in Britain I mentioned that.

[Jellybean]

There is also a memorial to Alan Turing in Sackville Park in Manchester, which for those who don't know the area is right in the heart of the gay village there and accordingly it's well tended to and very popular for pics etc during PRIDE etc as well as throughout the rest of the year too.

My post where I answered arsenal's question about what's life like for those of us who live in Britain I mentioned that.

So you did, wingnut, forgive me, I'd forgotten all about your post, which can be found by clicking on the following link:
https://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showt...l=1#post273671

[Nirish guy]

My post where I answered arsenal's question about what's life like for those of us who live in Britain I mentioned that.

Ahh apologies Wingnut, I was mistaking your post for that of Bkk above, I see the post you're referring to now that JB has linked it.

[Jellybean]

There is also a memorial to Alan Turing in Sackville Park in Manchester, which for those who don't know the area is right in the heart of the gay village there and accordingly it's well tended to and very popular for pics etc during PRIDE etc as well as throughout the rest of the year too.

Thanks NIrish-guy for posting the photos of the Alan Turing memorial in Sackville Park, Manchester. I don’t think I was aware of the memorial, despite going to Manchester many times; sadly my last visit to Manchester was in August 2001 for Pride, a year before my cancer diagnosis, hence why I’ve never been back.

On checking the Internet I noted that the memorial was unveiled on June 23, 2001, it was therefore there during my last visit. But I honestly cannot remember if I saw it or not, probably not, as it was a pretty hectic and, dare I say, hedonistic weekend devoted to watching the parade, shopping, eating out at restaurants, going to pubs and clubs before returning to London very much the worse for wear.

The mention of the Alan Turing memorial reminded me that I fell in love with Manchester back in 1982 when I travelled down from Aberdeen, a posting I was not at all happy with. I went there to attend three, two week training courses at a training centre in Chorlton Street, the street next to Sackville Street in the gay quarter.

My first hotel was not at all convenient as it was some distance from the training centre and involved taking buses (or taxis in the evening). On my second visit, for convenience, I decided to book a hotel closer to the training centre and booked into a nearby gay hotel called, The Rembrandt, on Sackville Street, in the heart of the gay area.

Back in 1982 there were no equal opportunities for homosexuals or anti-gay discrimination policies in the British Civil Service. I was therefore very much in the closet. On our first day, I’d forgotten that the tutors asked the course attendees to say which hotel they were staying at. No comment was made as each attendee mentioned the name and telephone number of their hotel that is until it came to me. When I informed the tutors that I was staying at The Rembrandt Hotel, they expressed surprise and asked if I had noticed anything strange. I felt rather embarrassed (I blushed easily in those days) and said no, I had observed nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, this aroused the interest of my fellow course attendees, which only added to my embarrassment. The tutors said they’d enquire again the next day. On the following day my choice of hotel was still preying on the tutors’ minds and they again asked me if I had noted anything strange. For a second time I advised them that all seemed well, the room and breakfast were perfectly adequate. Naturally the questioning piqued the interest of my fellow classmates and they asked what was wrong with the hotel. In reply, the tutors revealed to the class that I had chosen a gay hotel. I think they said ‘gay’ they may used the word ‘homosexual’, I can’t now remember. To save face, and the possibility of a report being sent back to my managers and it having an adverse affect on my career prospects, I’m sorry to report that I was economical with the actualité and said I was not aware that it was for gay people, I had simply chosen the hotel for its proximity to the training centre. I think the tutors accepted my story and said something like, “Better watch your back then!” to hoots of laughter from my fellow classmates. Thankfully, those days are long gone and such discriminatory behaviour would not now be tolerated in the UK.

But on a more positive note, I enjoyed Manchester gay nightlife immensely and asked our Personnel Division (the forerunner to our Human Resources department) if my transfer to Aberdeen could be changed to Manchester. My request was denied. Over several weeks of submitting lists of possible other cities I’d accept a transfer to and being continually disappointed when my requests were denied, I finally said I would accept a transfer to London – anywhere to get out of Aberdeen! My offer was immediately accepted, mainly because few of my colleagues working outside London wanted the upheaval of moving to London due to the high cost of living, high property prices, the problem of their partners having to find work and the disruption involved in changing schools for their children. I was transferred a few months later in November 1982. Looking back, moving to London was one of the best things that ever happened to me and I never regretted it for one moment. For a gay man, it felt like being a kid in a sweet shop (candy store for US members).

I did however return to Manchester many times in the following years and always stayed at The Rembrandt Hotel.

Apologies for the length of this post and for drifting off topic, but isn’t it strange what memories can be evoked at the mention of certain places or times.