News about Tommy Flowers

Colossus is seen in full working condition as it was used by spies at Bletchley Park and played a significant role in ending the Second World War. They've been released to commemorate what is also believed to be the first digital computer ever made. Colossus, which refers to a series of computers rather than a single unit, was so useful that the security services continued to use it into the 1960s that it was impossible to reveal until the early 2000s. The photographs depict the Wrens' work on the computer, blueprints of its internal workings, and a letter with a note containing references to "rather alarming German instructions" intercepted by it. Engineer Tommy Flowers (inset) designed the Colossus in 1944 to decipher critical strategic messages between the most senior German Generals in occupied Europe. The machines also assisted in the creation of the intelligence that deceived Hitler that the Allied invasion would be launched from Calais rather than Normandy, which was part of the D-Day preparations.