Apparently Winston Churchill was startled by the geeky codebreakers that were vital to the British in World War II.
“Winston Churchill was fully aware of the importance of the Bletchley decipherments, and on 6 September 1941 he visited the codebreakers. On meeting some of the cryptanalysts, he was surprised by the bizarre mixture of people who were providing him with such valuable information; in addition to the mathematicians and linguists, there was an authority on porcelain, a curator from the Prague Museum, the British chess champion and numerous bridge experts. Churchill muttered to Sir Stewart Menzies, head of the Secret Intelligence Service, ‘I told you to leave no stone unturned, but I didn’t expect you to take me so literally.’”
From The Code Book by Simon Singh
Geeks for the win!
Kallen Kentner ·
