Colossus: Bletchley Park's Last Secret

This is the last untold story of Bletchley Park. Using declassified information, Paul Gannon gives us a gripping account of the invention of the world's first true computer, Colossus.

Uncover the secrets of Bletchley Park's code-breaking computers.



In 1940, almost a year after the outbreak of the Second World war, Allied radio operators at an interception station in South London began picking up messages in a strange new code. Using science, maths, innovation and improvisation Bletchley Park codebreakers worked furiously to invent a machine to decipher what turned out to be the secrets of Nazi high command. It was called Colossus.



What these codebreakers didn't realize was that they had to fashion the world's first true computer. When the war ended, this incredible invention was dismantled and hidden away for almost 50 years. Paul Gannon has pieced together the tremendous story of what is now recognized as the greatest secret of Bletchley Park.

'Gannon's book contains a mass of utterly fascinating and largely unknown material about an immensely important wartime project, and is very welcome indeed.' - Brian Rendell, TES



Paul Gannon writes on all aspects of information and communications technology.



Paul Gannon has revealed a previously untold story ... [Colossus] tells of the heroic efforts of the inventors and mathematicians [who] recieved no recognition for decades ... Gannon sets the record straight.



Seeks to restore Colossus to its rightful place in the history of computing ... read Gannon to feel the collective power of human minds harnessed to the cause of defending out freedom.



Masterly in its breadth and sweep ... Gannon's account of wartime interception and encryption is deeply researched ... I commend the book to both the professional and the general reader.