Right up to the mid 1970’s there was a ban on any of the work of War Time Bletchley being made public. The site of Bletchley had been taken over by the Civil Aviation Authority for its College of Engineering Training. Maintaining the security of the site was still an ongoing process that was being performed by Prof Tony Sale and as he became more aware of the sites historical importance he recognised that the work of all the wartime staff were not receiving any due praise. Eventually he obtained permission to have the film Enigma created providing that it didn’t identify any of the actual staff. However there was a change of mind and the BBC were told they could interview the few code breakers still alive. Ultimately Tony achieved his goal to get these brilliant people the long overdue public recognition for the work they did.
Thank you Tommy and also all those who helped with the construction of Colossus. We owe our modern lives to them today! They were such incredible people! Also, thank you for posting this video!
It was Bill Tutte who broke the Lorenz SZ-40-42 (12 rotor) cipher machine and did that alone without ever seeing a Lorenz. After Bill did that incredible feat, his work went to Tommy Flowers who then conceived, designed, built and put into operational use, a new electronic, memory-based, digital high speed, computer called the Colossus, to accelerate breaking the Top Secret Lorenz encrypted ciphers of Hitler and the High Command of the German General Staff who used the Lorenz cipher system (through its teletypewriter) to send Top Secret command and control operational orders and directives to the senior general field officers in Command and in reply receive their very detailed operational and logistics status reports. Colossus began with Bill Tutte's work without which It would not have been created....Tommy Flowers made the Colossus and its rapid decryption process of Lorenz possible. Read Captain Jerry Roberts Book: LORENZ, (Jerry was a team leader, German linguist and cryptographer, the last living member of that team....!
Although it was a huge injustice that no one knew about these people it was in the interest of the nation that it was kept secret. I feel very privileged that we know about them now and that we’re able to teach this history to young children. It’s so important that we learn about the history of computing because I feel that computers, smartphones and tablets aren’t really appreciated because they’re something that the younger generation has grown up with.
there wasn't one sole hero at bletchly it was one out standing team I would love to know what the German high command would have made of it an it's discusting that it was broken up
@@michaeltalbot8242 Yes, it was a brief, but to the point discription. No mention of Turing, Welchman, and Tutt etc etc , but everyone played an important part.
What wonderful people, a great team. Tommy Flowers' your legacy will always be remembered for your genius intellect, determination and contribution to the war effort... the world's first programmable electronic computer. Its a shame the yanks took the title later in years because of the official secrets act, we couldn't say anything.
Thank you to all who worked on this project. It laid the foundation for the unimaginably advanced world that we live in today and is the reason that so many of us are fortunate to live the lives that we do.
Excellent video, well done Google. Tommy Flowers is a forgotten hero in the development of the first computers and WWII code-breaking. You can sponsor a valve to help towards the rebuild of the Colossus replica at Bletchley Park if you want to support the project.
A marvelous group of people for whom I have the greatest admiration for in there service to this nation in terrible dark days, but also, all be it in secrecy they unknowingly of the time were laying down the foundation stones and legacy of computer technology we now have the ability to enjoy here in our modern world today. Here's a grateful thanks to Tommy and his fantastic team.
Wow i have so much respect for these people! Watching this video on my iphone i realised the connection and that it is due to their efforts and talent we have this technology today! Happy they got the credit they deserve in the end!
These absolute geniuses can not be overstated in importance, they really won the war. Colossus deciphered the crucial message just before D-day that Hitler took the bait at Calais. Game, Set, MATCH. Thanks to all these true heroes. Not to outdo Alan Turing but why there is so little to commemorate Tommy Flowers & Bill Tutte.
so far ahead of their time we still have not been shown how they did it . funny how we have been shown how the enemy encoded the messages , but we still have not been shown how a handful of mew/women built a machine that broke the code and the thoughts behind the construction . parts of colossus are still secret . man it's been 78 years .
At this point in time, why is any of this still considered secret?! Cryptography surely has advanced so far that none of this could still be classed secret?!
@notrut I'm sorry I can't take out the music, but I've spent the morning preparing captions for it. If you press the "cc" button under the video and choose the 'english' option, then when they start speaking captions should appear. Hope this helps somewhat anyway :)
Bit of a faux pas there. Shows a CR91 receiver, but this is post-war development of the AR-88LF. It would have been AR-88LF or AR-88D RCA models that would have been used for intercept.
It's really a shame that they had to destroy all that original equipment and burn the documentation. You know a lot of that knowledge went with the people responsible for creating it, but still, what a treasure that would have been to have at least some of the original working computers and the documents behind the building of that technology.
We sent the plans to the USA, they built a couple. As far as I know they were also broken up, but some of the documents survived. These were vital when the colossus rebuild was started. Now we have a working colossus again, built from original mostly standard GPO telephone exchange parts. I went on a visit to see it, It is really something else. It reads punched tape at a speed of 30MPH (48KPH), 5,000 characters a second! That was a very special visit for me.
I've been to Bletchley Park and seen the reconstructed Colossus, which were constructed from scant photos, a drawing or two, and memory. it is an amazing looking job, and virtually as original as is possible to be. When I was there 5 years ago, visitors could ask the machine to solve a problem, and it could do it just as quick as a LapTop of the day. There are many exhibits, including Enigma and Lorenz machines etc, I cannot recommend a visit strong enough. As to why most Colossus were destroyed--I'm convinced it was pressure from our American 'friends' who didn't want Britain to steel a big lead in the Computer business---which of course they did. PS. two Colossus were kept by, till about 1970--then they too were destroyed.
It’s phenomenal that the colossus was able to be rebuilt from such a small amount of diagrams and also to be able to their hands on the valves to make the rebuild.
@gudehus Not strictly true. The Z2 was electro-mechanical using relays as the active component, which greatly limited the speed of operation. That's not to take anything away from Konrad Zuse; he's definitely up there with Turing and von Neumann IMHO. If the German military had agreed to his request for funding to replace the relays with valves then I'm pretty sure he would have beaten the Colossus team.
And your evidence is ... ? If you are referring to the Polish "Bomby" machines, they were OK for the early versions of Enigma but with the introduction before WWII of the plugboard they were rendered useless. It was at Bletchley Park that the latter, more sophisticated versions were cracked using, firstly, the "Bombe" machines and then "Colossus".
Is there a movie about it? There should be! Like the movie about the Navajo code talkers or the women working at NASA. This story is just as awesome!! 🇬🇧
The heroes are the RAF "Y" service (wireless radio intercept) who listened in on German radio morse code traffic, then transcribed it....the end product, encyphered/encrypted, was sent to Bletchley Park offices (army, naval, Air Force and "other" specialized offices such as for the SS, the diplomatic service, the German labour and railway systems, etc) who then worked to decrypt them via the enigma "bombe" computer or the Lorenz "Collossus" digital, high speed memory based computer, either of which "broke" the encrypted messages, which were then translated from German to English text......those then sent immediately to the British and later the American military operational headquarters via "ULTRA - Special Liaision Units" (SLUs) to field commanders. Without the "ears" of the "Y" service, no German military or government morse code transmitted messages would have been intercepted....!
Seriously? You do know that Y stations extended beyond the RAF. Actually, I don't think you do. Y stations were run by all three services, plus the MET Office at Dunstable, the Post Office, and the Foreign Office, it was a far bigger operation than you describe
People hardly ever get the proper recognition for efforts anyway, the average folk never are able to understand and don't care too much anyway. And politicians usually are even worse.
Imagine how sensible Canadian's feel about the Diefenbaker Government's destruction of the Avro Arrow, not only the blueprints but the six completed interceptors that were years ahead of their time. The same ignorance displayed once again so many years years after the end of WW2. I can vote for the Progressive Conservatives in my Province, if they have a good leader and candidates, but not for the Federal Conservatives.
Who's here from Google+? P.S. Why did the uploader have to put a speed option on this video? It is physically impossible for me not to mess around with it.
@yawnyawn23 Except, they did... History proves you wrong. If you have evidence to the contrary then it would surely be sensational, if true. Who was it that was breaking the cypher and supplying the British with the decyphered messages they used?
I think its disgraceful that this entire video has completely overlooked and failed to cite Sir Alan Turing for his work. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Alan Turing is rightly considered a genius and he is definitely a key figure in the Bletchly Park story. However, this video is specifically about Colossus, and Turing was not as prominently involved.
Turing had nothing to do with Colossus, he didn't even know that it had been built, he worked on enigma not Lorentz and was not told about it, Tommy Flowers is a true genius...
Alan Turing was not involved in the development of Colossus. What is truly disgraceful however is that despite the vast impact of computers in the world today, hardly anyone knows the name of the inventor of the worlds first reprogrammable computer - a man who devised this machine against the 'wisdom' of the 'experts' of the day and got paid just £1,000, most of which he paid to his helpers. Absolute shame on the British government for not affording him any honour or recognition, and shame on the Royal Society for not awarding him FRS. Tommy Flowers, I salute you and your magnificent achievements. True Genius, true patriot.
Imagine if those hadn't been destroyed but developed. Silicon Valley would have been in the UK, not the US. The whole world would have been different. Disgusting.
2:14 Can’t watch this any more - the music is irrelevant and distracting - the speech is out of sync - and the witness - tho’ always precious from people involved - is basic and subjective. What are you intending to communicate? Or are you de-culturing?
Yeah right. It was Bill Tutte who broke the Lorenz SZ-40-42 (12 rotor) cipher machine and did that alone without ever seeing a Lorenz. After Bill did that incredible feat, his work went to Tommy Flowers who then conceived, designed, built and put into operational use, a new electronic, memory-based, digital high speed, computer called the Colossus, to accelerate breaking the Top Secret Lorenz encrypted ciphers of Hitler and the High Command of the German General Staff who used the Lorenz cipher system (through its teletypewriter) to send Top Secret command and control operational orders and directives to the senior general field officers in Command and in reply receive their very detailed operational and logistics status reports. Colossus began with Bill Tutte's work without which It would not have been created....Tommy Flowers made the Colossus and its rapid decryption process of Lorenz possible. Read Captain Jerry Roberts Book: LORENZ, (Jerry was a team leader, German linguist and cryptographer, the last living member of that team!
Right up to the mid 1970’s there was a ban on any of the work of War Time Bletchley being made public. The site of Bletchley had been taken over by the Civil Aviation Authority for its College of Engineering Training. Maintaining the security of the site was still an ongoing process that was being performed by Prof Tony Sale and as he became more aware of the sites historical importance he recognised that the work of all the wartime staff were not receiving any due praise. Eventually he obtained permission to have the film Enigma created providing that it didn’t identify any of the actual staff. However there was a change of mind and the BBC were told they could interview the few code breakers still alive. Ultimately Tony achieved his goal to get these brilliant people the long overdue public recognition for the work they did.
After watching this, I feel immensely grateful to "team Colossus". Thanks for serving the world during its time of need.
You will always be remembered, Thank-You Tommy!
Thank you Tommy and also all those who helped with the construction of Colossus. We owe our modern lives to them today! They were such incredible people! Also, thank you for posting this video!
It was Bill Tutte who broke the Lorenz SZ-40-42 (12 rotor) cipher machine and did that alone without ever seeing a Lorenz. After Bill did that incredible feat, his work went to Tommy Flowers who then conceived, designed, built and put into operational use, a new electronic, memory-based, digital high speed, computer called the Colossus, to accelerate breaking the Top Secret Lorenz encrypted ciphers of Hitler and the High Command of the German General Staff who used the Lorenz cipher system (through its teletypewriter) to send Top Secret command and control operational orders and directives to the senior general field officers in Command and in reply receive their very detailed operational and logistics status reports. Colossus began with Bill Tutte's work without which It would not have been created....Tommy Flowers made the Colossus and its rapid decryption process of Lorenz possible. Read Captain Jerry Roberts Book: LORENZ, (Jerry was a team leader, German linguist and cryptographer, the last living member of that team....!
This is so very moving. What extraordinary people they were at Bletchley Park!
A huge injustice was done to these outstanding individuals in not receiving official recognition for their invaluable work.
Although it was a huge injustice that no one knew about these people it was in the interest of the nation that it was kept secret. I feel very privileged that we know about them now and that we’re able to teach this history to young children. It’s so important that we learn about the history of computing because I feel that computers, smartphones and tablets aren’t really appreciated because they’re something that the younger generation has grown up with.
Unfortunately it was the Churchill governments obsession with secrecy that kept this under wraps for decades post war.
This Fantastic story can NEVER be over stated, or repeated too often. Our very existence , owes itself to what happened then.
there wasn't one sole hero at bletchly it was one out standing team I would love to know what the German high command would have made of it an it's discusting that it was broken up
@@michaeltalbot8242 Yes, it was a brief, but to the point discription. No mention of Turing, Welchman, and Tutt etc etc , but everyone played an important part.
What wonderful people, a great team. Tommy Flowers' your legacy will always be remembered for your genius intellect, determination and contribution to the war effort... the world's first programmable electronic computer. Its a shame the yanks took the title later in years because of the official secrets act, we couldn't say anything.
This is great not enough is said about Tommy flowers and his team and the building of the computer
Thank you to all who worked on this project.
It laid the foundation for the unimaginably advanced world that we live in today and is the reason that so many of us are fortunate to live the lives that we do.
For those who do not know, Y Stations were Receiver Stations, the received and copied code was then passed on to Bletchley Park.
Excellent video, well done Google. Tommy Flowers is a forgotten hero in the development of the first computers and WWII code-breaking.
You can sponsor a valve to help towards the rebuild of the Colossus replica at Bletchley Park if you want to support the project.
I think they used double triodes in a flip flop circuit.
Wish I had known that, I would have happily sponsored a valve (or two)
A marvelous group of people for whom I have the greatest admiration for in there service to this nation in terrible dark days, but also, all be it in secrecy they unknowingly of the time were laying down the foundation stones and legacy of computer technology we now have the ability to enjoy here in our modern world today. Here's a grateful thanks to Tommy and his fantastic team.
neat 🤓 thanks for sharing this 🤍
There needs to be more appreciation
Wow i have so much respect for these people! Watching this video on my iphone i realised the connection and that it is due to their efforts and talent we have this technology today! Happy they got the credit they deserve in the end!
It is humbling, minds such as theirs, rare indeed.
Not so rare, just motivated and properly used. When humanity comes together we can accomplish great things. You are capable of what they achieved.
Just awe inspiring. Just absolutely awe inspiring!
Very moving to see and hear some of the people who worked on this important machine.
These absolute geniuses can not be overstated in importance, they really won the war. Colossus deciphered the crucial message just before D-day that Hitler took the bait at Calais. Game, Set, MATCH. Thanks to all these true heroes. Not to outdo Alan Turing but why there is so little to commemorate Tommy Flowers & Bill Tutte.
2 Collussi went to GCHQ in Cheltenham, and were not broken up until the early 60's
fantastic. very well done. thanks
Hey, there are subtitles already, at least in English. You just need to click the "CC" button underneath the video
Fantastic peice of trivia & most importantly world changing.. thanks for the video!
I suggest you check-out the true meaning of ''TRIVIA''.
so far ahead of their time we still have not been shown how they did it . funny how we have been shown how the enemy encoded the messages , but we still have not been shown how a handful of mew/women built a machine that broke the code and the thoughts behind the construction . parts of colossus are still secret . man it's been 78 years .
At this point in time, why is any of this still considered secret?! Cryptography surely has advanced so far that none of this could still be classed secret?!
This is touching.
@notrut I'm sorry I can't take out the music, but I've spent the morning preparing captions for it. If you press the "cc" button under the video and choose the 'english' option, then when they start speaking captions should appear. Hope this helps somewhat anyway :)
Bit of a faux pas there. Shows a CR91 receiver, but this is post-war development of the AR-88LF. It would have been AR-88LF or AR-88D RCA models that would have been used for intercept.
It's really a shame that they had to destroy all that original equipment and burn the documentation. You know a lot of that knowledge went with the people responsible for creating it, but still, what a treasure that would have been to have at least some of the original working computers and the documents behind the building of that technology.
We sent the plans to the USA, they built a couple. As far as I know they were also broken up, but some of the documents survived. These were vital when the colossus rebuild was started. Now we have a working colossus again, built from original mostly standard GPO telephone exchange parts. I went on a visit to see it, It is really something else. It reads punched tape at a speed of 30MPH (48KPH), 5,000 characters a second! That was a very special visit for me.
I've been to Bletchley Park and seen the reconstructed Colossus, which were constructed from scant photos, a drawing or two, and memory. it is an amazing looking job, and virtually as original as is possible to be. When I was there 5 years ago, visitors could ask the machine to solve a problem, and it could do it just as quick as a LapTop of the day. There are many exhibits, including Enigma and Lorenz machines etc, I cannot recommend a visit strong enough. As to why most Colossus were destroyed--I'm convinced it was pressure from our American 'friends' who didn't want Britain to steel a big lead in the Computer business---which of course they did. PS. two Colossus were kept by, till about 1970--then they too were destroyed.
Andrew Ongais
wrong decade. The sovets were fed information, deliberately by the allies.
It’s phenomenal that the colossus was able to be rebuilt from such a small amount of diagrams and also to be able to their hands on the valves to make the rebuild.
Thankyou, clearly other viewers agree too...
I wonder what Dr. Forbin would think about this video.
Espectacular la funcion subtitulos, muchas gracias!!
I h8 watching these for school work but this is fascinating
Omg same
yeah im in computing
Watch ''STATION X'' , which is what Bletchley Park was called. it's on YT. 4 episodes, not high quality though, taken from VHS.
And those miracle pioneers at Bletchley, during WWII, did it not for money but for duty, their country, and to save the world ...
Amazing !
Massive thanks to Google for this! #epic
this is an interesting world..
Brilliant!
just incredible
VERY INTERESTING VIDEO, BRAINS OVER BRAUN
@gudehus Not strictly true. The Z2 was electro-mechanical using relays as the active component, which greatly limited the speed of operation. That's not to take anything away from Konrad Zuse; he's definitely up there with Turing and von Neumann IMHO. If the German military had agreed to his request for funding to replace the relays with valves then I'm pretty sure he would have beaten the Colossus team.
@computingheritage Thankyou for your help. Programme makers take note!
Less over dubbed 'atmosphere' music please. Not necessary!
And your evidence is ... ? If you are referring to the Polish "Bomby" machines, they were OK for the early versions of Enigma but with the introduction before WWII of the plugboard they were rendered useless. It was at Bletchley Park that the latter, more sophisticated versions were cracked using, firstly, the "Bombe" machines and then "Colossus".
The birth of the Computer.
I love it it is so inspiring
respect
Is there a movie about it? There should be! Like the movie about the Navajo code talkers or the women working at NASA. This story is just as awesome!! 🇬🇧
Watch the 4 part ''STATION X'' on YT. taken from a Channel 4 TV recording of about 2007. Quality's not good though, but well worth your time.
inspiring story...... almost made me kiss my computer
Do you guys mind if I use a short section of this in one of my videos to promote it, I'd love to send people in it's direction :o)
Cool gruß aus Frankfurt
@Famousagentman Didn't even notice the speed option until I read your comment, now I can't stop playing with it.... thanks
The heroes are the RAF "Y" service (wireless radio intercept) who listened in on German radio morse code traffic, then transcribed it....the end product, encyphered/encrypted, was sent to Bletchley Park offices (army, naval, Air Force and "other" specialized offices such as for the SS, the diplomatic service, the German labour and railway systems, etc) who then worked to decrypt them via the enigma "bombe" computer or the Lorenz "Collossus" digital, high speed memory based computer, either of which "broke" the encrypted messages, which were then translated from German to English text......those then sent immediately to the British and later the American military operational headquarters via "ULTRA - Special Liaision Units" (SLUs) to field commanders. Without the "ears" of the "Y" service, no German military or government morse code transmitted messages would have been intercepted....!
Seriously? You do know that Y stations extended beyond the RAF. Actually, I don't think you do. Y stations were run by all three services, plus the MET Office at Dunstable, the Post Office, and the Foreign Office, it was a far bigger operation than you describe
Thanks to Alan Turin....
Alan worked on, and broke the Enigma code, whereas colossus decoded the Lorentz (German high command) Cypher.
i love this viedo
This sounds a LOT better at 1.25 speed!!!
People hardly ever get the proper recognition for efforts anyway, the average folk never are able to understand and don't care too much anyway. And politicians usually are even worse.
You should put subtitles
You should click the CC button... LMAO!
Laurence?
Surely it was the Lorenz Cypher?
Imagine how sensible Canadian's feel about the Diefenbaker Government's destruction of the Avro Arrow, not only the blueprints but the six completed interceptors that were years ahead of their time. The same ignorance displayed once again so many years years after the end of WW2. I can vote for the Progressive Conservatives in my Province, if they have a good leader and candidates, but not for the Federal Conservatives.
Once again---POLITICS
"Smash it all up..." Uh-huh. I think not.
Poderia ser traduzido para Português (Brasil)!
Pueden subtitularlo?
Who's here from Google+?
P.S. Why did the uploader have to put a speed option on this video? It is physically impossible for me not to mess around with it.
Google brought me here. And here brought me Google.
6:10 older peter pettigrew
name of musical track please...
Probably 'plink, plink, plonk, plonk.' Think it was somebody banging away on a piano, but I loved it as well.
Brilliant inspiring story... but please delete the piano backing music..
I have tinnitus and I want to hear what the old heroes are saying!
Now they just need to get Linux running on it
@yawnyawn23 Except, they did... History proves you wrong. If you have evidence to the contrary then it would surely be sensational, if true. Who was it that was breaking the cypher and supplying the British with the decyphered messages they used?
@yawnyawn23 Needs citation.
I think its disgraceful that this entire video has completely overlooked and failed to cite Sir Alan Turing for his work. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Alan Turing is rightly considered a genius and he is definitely a key figure in the Bletchly Park story. However, this video is specifically about Colossus, and Turing was not as prominently involved.
Turing had nothing to do with Colossus, he didn't even know that it had been built, he worked on enigma not Lorentz and was not told about it, Tommy Flowers is a true genius...
Alan Turing was not involved in the development of Colossus. What is truly disgraceful however is that despite the vast impact of computers in the world today, hardly anyone knows the name of the inventor of the worlds first reprogrammable computer - a man who devised this machine against the 'wisdom' of the 'experts' of the day and got paid just £1,000, most of which he paid to his helpers. Absolute shame on the British government for not affording him any honour or recognition, and shame on the Royal Society for not awarding him FRS. Tommy Flowers, I salute you and your magnificent achievements. True Genius, true patriot.
You might want to watch the The Forbin Project. Colossus is still Classified.
You are stupid
wow. all who came before .
This project may have won the war, and certainly shortened it. Who knows, we might all be speaking Russian today otherwise.
No you're all speaking American instead.
Why would we be speaking Russian?
@@andyconner8725 Because they would have got to Paris, we would have be glaring at them over the channel
Imagine if those hadn't been destroyed but developed. Silicon Valley would have been in the UK, not the US. The whole world would have been different. Disgusting.
2:14 Can’t watch this any more - the music is irrelevant and distracting - the speech is out of sync - and the witness - tho’ always precious from people involved - is basic and subjective. What are you intending to communicate? Or are you de-culturing?
That's what happens when someone copies the original and posts on UA-cam
I like the girl
5:00 to 5:10 false
Ok, go find an original then.
OK, 2 of them did go to GCHQ after WWII, but they were also broken up later.
First hack. wow
Good ole' British.
Yeah right.
It was Bill Tutte who broke the Lorenz SZ-40-42 (12 rotor) cipher machine and did that alone without ever seeing a Lorenz. After Bill did that incredible feat, his work went to Tommy Flowers who then conceived, designed, built and put into operational use, a new electronic, memory-based, digital high speed, computer called the Colossus, to accelerate breaking the Top Secret Lorenz encrypted ciphers of Hitler and the High Command of the German General Staff who used the Lorenz cipher system (through its teletypewriter) to send Top Secret command and control operational orders and directives to the senior general field officers in Command and in reply receive their very detailed operational and logistics status reports. Colossus began with Bill Tutte's work without which It would not have been created....Tommy Flowers made the Colossus and its rapid decryption process of Lorenz possible. Read Captain Jerry Roberts Book: LORENZ, (Jerry was a team leader, German linguist and cryptographer, the last living member of that team!