Hi Joris: I told the story of the uncovering of Colossus in a lecture I gave at The National Museum of Computing about ten years ago – see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl6pK1Z7B5Q Cheers Brian — School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 URL = https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html On 18/01/2024, 16:54, "Joris van Zundert" <joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl> wrote: Hi Brian, Brilliant! Thanks for this firsthand account. (Still a mystery why the British broadcast confusion then.) All the best --Joris -- Dr. Joris J. van Zundert Researcher & Developer in Humanities Computing Dept. of Computational Literary Studies / DHLab Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl<mailto:joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl> <color:rgb(0,120,212)> @jorisvanzundert +31624461051 http://jorisvanzundert.net/ <http://jorisvanzundert.net/><http://jorisvanzundert.net/%3e> https://www.huygens.knaw.nl/en/medewerkers/joris-van-zundert-2/ <https://www.huygens.knaw.nl/en/medewerkers/joris-van-zundert-2/><https://www.huygens.knaw.nl/en/medewerkers/joris-van-zundert-2/%3e> visiting address Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185 1012 DK Amsterdam The Netherlands postal address P.O. Box 10855 1001 EW Amsterdam The Netherlands -- Jack Sparrow: I thought you were supposed to keep to the code. Mr. Gibbs: We figured they were more actual guidelines. ________________________________________ From: Brian Randell <brian.randell@newcastle.ac.uk<mailto:brian.randell@newcastle.ac.uk>> Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2024 5:19:55 PM To: Joris van Zundert <joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl<mailto:joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl>> Cc: Sigcis <members@sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org>> Subject: Re: Colossus at 80 Hi Joris: I was shown the photographs, and given permission to interview the developers, in mid-1975. A set of photographs, and a single-page description, were released to the Public Record Office in 1975. My (cleared) paper revealing the Colossus was given at the splendid Los Alamos conference in June 1976 – see https://computerhistory.org/blog/computings-woodstock/ <https://computerhistory.org/blog/computings-woodstock/><https://computerhistory.org/blog/computings-woodstock/%3e>. (I had previously, in 1972, published such few facts as I could discover about the project in my 1972 paper “On Alan Turing and the Origins of Computers” - http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/Papers-Books/126.pdf <http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/Papers-Books/126.pdf><http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/Papers-Books/126.pdf%3e>.) Cheers Brian Randell — School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk<mailto:Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk> PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 URL = https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html On 18/01/2024, 13:42, "Joris van Zundert" <joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl<mailto:joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl>> wrote: Hi, Any ideas on this puzzling sentence in the press release? “The Colossus computer was created during the Second World War […] but its existence was only revealed in the early 2000s after six decades of secrecy.” As far as I know the existence of Colossus has in no way been a mystery at least since the early 1970s, right? Best --Joris From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> <mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org>>> on behalf of Brian Randell via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org> <mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org>>> Date: Thursday, January 18, 2024 at 12:50 To: Sigcis <members@sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org> <mailto:members@sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org>>> Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Colossus at 80 Hi: Here is the official GCHQ press release: https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80 <https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80><https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80%3e> <https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80><https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80%3e> <https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80%3e><https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80%3e%3e> Cheers Brian Randell — School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk<mailto:Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk> <mailto:Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk<mailto:Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk>> PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 URL = https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html <https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html><https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html%3e>