BP

[Pete Bentley]

At Thu, 10 Jun 1999 11:36:23 BST, Alec Muffett writes:-
> Item on the "Today" programme on Radio4 just before 9am this morning,
> saying that Bletchley Park has been "saved for the nation" [...]
>=20
> Does anyone have any more information?

>From http://www.theregister.co.uk/990610-000025.html:-

Posted 10/06/99 3:57pm by Tony Smith

BT saves Station X for exploitation

Bletchley Park, site of the British successful attempts to crack Nazi
cyphers during World War 2 and old stomping ground of this reporter,
is finally destined to become a crypto theme park.

Today, Bletchley Park Trust chairman Sir Philip Duncombe announced
that British Telecom and land-owning quango Pace have saved the site
for the Nation from the clutches of the local authority, Milton Keynes
District Council.

Milton Keynes, famous for its cornflake box school of architecture and
possessor of one of the highest young male suicide rates in the
country, had considered turning the home of the world's first
electronic computer into prime development land.

However, thanks to funding from BT and Pace, the Bletchley Park Trust
will be able to buy the site and turn it into a major heritage
centre. BT and Pace will own the site, originally known by its
codename, Station X, and lease it for a 250-year period to the Trust.

While we welcome the preservation of this important national -- nay,
international -- monument, we can't help be worried by the dreaded
phrase 'heritage centre'. If it's anything like most such locations in
the tourist-tempting British Isles, visitors can expected to be hawked
Alan Turing Towel Sets, Wolfpacks of Biscuits, Bletchley Baseball
Hats, Colossus Cream Teas, the Admiral Doenitz Bouncy Castle and other
such tat. =AE