Saving Bletchley Park ~ Hardback ~ Sue Black

There have been many histories of Bletchley Park and the heroic work of Alan Turing and the code-breakers, work so important that it changed the course of the Second World War, shortening it by two years. This book tells a different story, of how this intensely iconic historical site was saved using the power of social media and the very computing technology that was born here. When Dr Sue Black first visited Bletchley in 2004, her preconception was that it had been run by a small group of tweed-jacketed, pipe-smoking men. To her surprise she discovered that ten thousand people worked there during the war, that half of them were women, and that most were in their late teens and twenties. As a woman in computer science herself, she was hugely inspired by their stories. When she discovered that Bletchley was under threat of closure due to lack of funding, she set about a campaign to transform it into the heritage site it deserved to be. Harnessing the pride and inside knowledge of the surviving code-breakers, the power of Twitter, plus the reach of the modern broadcast and online media, Sue Black's campaign brought together thousands of supporters, from all walks of life, from celebrity supporters like Stephen Fry to the veterans, enthusiasts and computer geeks who offered their time and passion to save this extraordinary place. This is a wholly inspiring story of community-building, and how the determination of committed people can stop one of our most significant historical treasures being swept away by the bulldozers.Author BiographySue Black Saving Bletchley Park is Sue's first book. At the time of funding it was the fastest crowdfunded book in the world EVER! Dr Sue Black left home and school at 16, married at 20 and had 3 children by the age of 23. At 25, a single parent living on a council estate in Brixton, she decided to get an education. Sue studied maths at Southwark College, then gained a degree in computing and a PhD in software engineering at London South Bank University. In 2001 Sue set up the UK's first online network for women in tech, BCSWomen. It was this that led her in 2003 to Bletchley Park for the first time, and to starting her campaign to save it in 2008. Passionate about the way that technology and education can change lives Sue is now a social entrepreneur, "tech...", writer and public speaker who has won numerous awards including being one of the '50 most inspiring women in European tech'. Her start-up, #techmums works with disadvantaged families, teaching mums tech skills to empower them, build their confidence and get them excited about technology. Sue writes regularly in the UK national press about technology. Sue would love to know if you enjoyed readingSaving Bletchley Park, so please do tweet her @Dr_Black and let her know using the Twitter ID @savingbletchley. Stevyn Colgan Stevyn joined the police after a drunken bet with his father (also a policeman) on his 18th birthday that he couldn't stay in the force for six months. He stayed thirty years. He currently works as a writer on the popular BBC TV series QI and its sister show, The Museum of Curiosity, for BBC Radio 4. He's written briefing notes for two prime ministers, TV scripts for Gerry Anderson and Doctor Who, helped build dinosaur skeletons for the Natural History Museum and movie monsters for Bruce Willis to shoot at. He's also been set on fire twice, been kissed by Princess Diana once, and Freddie Mercury once wore his helmet. He is a creative consultant for Left/Field London, a visiting lecturer at a number of UK universities, and has given hundreds of talks across the UK and USA. He was a judge for the 2014 Transmission Awards for the Communication of Ideas. He stops inordinately frequently for tea.