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Old 29th Dec 2016, 11:51 pm   #1
dave walsh
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Default Tommy Flowers

I heard "Travels With Bob" on R4 at 1-45pm today. I thought it was another look at multicultural London at first [my daughter was at Uni in Newham] but the focus was actually on the GPO Engineer and Bletchley Park Pioneer Tommy Flowers who was born there. They asked a number of people if they knew who he was but even in the Computer Department of the local College, drew a blank. The students were interested [I think] but really just looking forward to working in the Computer Games Industry. Some insights re Tommy though

Dave W.
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Old 30th Dec 2016, 12:18 am   #2
greg_simons
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Default Re: Tommy Flowers

That's terribly sad that he seems to be forgotten, he was a true hero and pioneer of the computing age working with the most cutting edge technology of the time and deserves to be up there with Marconi Fleming Thompson and the rest.
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Old 30th Dec 2016, 3:28 am   #3
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Default Re: Tommy Flowers

I heard this programme too, and, as I grew up in what was then the neighbouring borough of West Ham, found it interesting, especially as my first exposure to computer programming was in 1965 at the old East Ham technical college. After the A levels, my school sent those of us who had sat A level maths on a week's course there, where we learned about Boolean algebra and were introduced to assembler language: Tommy Flowers was not mentioned, but I suppose information about Bletchley Park was still classified then.. I still have my notes and the length of paper tape that my programme was punched on. My wife used to use it when teaching IT to illustrate the development of computing .

Last edited by emeritus; 30th Dec 2016 at 3:33 am.
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Old 1st Jan 2017, 9:21 pm   #4
dave walsh
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Default Re: Tommy Flowers

That is very interesting to hear emeritus. You are right that everyone was keeping the Official Secrets Act back then. I had to sign it as a Civil Service Clerk in 1970 but I was in the Department of Employment not GCHQ or threatened with a fate worse than prosecution! I only started to hear about these Wartime Activities through a talk at the local Radio Club in the early eighties. Bletchly Park and Tommy Flowers though, have been heavily featured [especially on BBC1 news] in more recent times, so I'm not sure that the College has an excuse now.
Thanks for the response,
Dave
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Old 1st Jan 2017, 10:23 pm   #5
Lucien Nunes
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Default Re: Tommy Flowers

I think the problem is that people who do pioneering work on classified projects, miss out on the exposure while their project is newsworthy. When details are released later, the work has long since been superseded and no-one but technical specialists find it interesting. That said, I find many people with good general knowledge are quite hazy about technological innovations outside their lifespan, even the famous ones.
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Old 2nd Jan 2017, 2:45 am   #6
els1967
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Default Re: Tommy Flowers

There is a Flowers Walk at the new B.P. housing development so not totally forgotten.
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Old 3rd Jan 2017, 11:15 pm   #7
m0cemdave
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Default Re: Tommy Flowers

Also, one of the Sheltered Housing units is called "Flowers House". It was built on what used to be the Mound, where GCHQ had a set of aerial masts until the 1980's.
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/51.99799/-0.74111
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