Colossus: Creating a Giant 

It was Bill Tutte who broke the Lorenz SZ-40-42 (12 rotor) cipher machine and did that alone without ever seeing a Lorenz. After Bill did that incredible feat, his work went to Tommy Flowers who then conceived, designed, built and put into operational use, a new electronic, memory-based, digital high speed, computer called the Colossus, to accelerate breaking the Top Secret Lorenz encrypted ciphers of Hitler and the High Command of the German General Staff who used the Lorenz cipher system (through its teletypewriter) to send Top Secret command and control operational orders and directives to the senior general field officers in Command and in reply receive their very detailed operational and logistics status reports. Colossus began with Bill Tutte's work without which It would not have been created....Tommy Flowers made the Colossus and its rapid decryption process of Lorenz possible. Read Captain Jerry Roberts Book: LORENZ, (Jerry was a team leader, German linguist and cryptographer, the last living member of that team....!

Although it was a huge injustice that no one knew about these people it was in the interest of the nation that it was kept secret. I feel very privileged that we know about them now and that we’re able to teach this history to young children. It’s so important that we learn about the history of computing because I feel that computers, smartphones and tablets aren’t really appreciated because they’re something that the younger generation has grown up with.

Unfortunately it was the Churchill governments obsession with secrecy that kept this under wraps for decades post war.

there wasn't one sole hero at bletchly it was one out standing team I would love to know what the German high command would have made of it an it's discusting that it was broken up

@@michaeltalbot8242 Yes, it was a brief, but to the point discription. No mention of Turing, Welchman, and Tutt etc etc , but everyone played an important part.

I think they used double triodes in a flip flop circuit.

Wish I had known that, I would have happily sponsored a valve (or two)

Not so rare, just motivated and properly used. When humanity comes together we can accomplish great things. You are capable of what they achieved.

At this point in time, why is any of this still considered secret?! Cryptography surely has advanced so far that none of this could still be classed secret?!

We sent the plans to the USA, they built a couple. As far as I know they were also broken up, but some of the documents survived. These were vital when the colossus rebuild was started. Now we have a working colossus again, built from original mostly standard GPO telephone exchange parts. I went on a visit to see it, It is really something else. It reads punched tape at a speed of 30MPH (48KPH), 5,000 characters a second! That was a very special visit for me.

I suggest you check-out the true meaning of ''TRIVIA''.

Andrew Ongais wrong decade. The sovets were fed information, deliberately by the allies.

It’s phenomenal that the colossus was able to be rebuilt from such a small amount of diagrams and also to be able to their hands on the valves to make the rebuild.

Watch the 4 part ''STATION X'' on YT. taken from a Channel 4 TV recording of about 2007. Quality's not good though, but well worth your time.

Omg same

yeah im in computing

Watch ''STATION X'' , which is what Bletchley Park was called. it's on YT. 4 episodes, not high quality though, taken from VHS.

Alan worked on, and broke the Enigma code, whereas colossus decoded the Lorentz (German high command) Cypher.

Seriously? You do know that Y stations extended beyond the RAF. Actually, I don't think you do. Y stations were run by all three services, plus the MET Office at Dunstable, the Post Office, and the Foreign Office, it was a far bigger operation than you describe

You should click the CC button... LMAO!

Once again---POLITICS

Alan Turing is rightly considered a genius and he is definitely a key figure in the Bletchly Park story. However, this video is specifically about Colossus, and Turing was not as prominently involved.

Turing had nothing to do with Colossus, he didn't even know that it had been built, he worked on enigma not Lorentz and was not told about it, Tommy Flowers is a true genius...

Alan Turing was not involved in the development of Colossus. What is truly disgraceful however is that despite the vast impact of computers in the world today, hardly anyone knows the name of the inventor of the worlds first reprogrammable computer - a man who devised this machine against the 'wisdom' of the 'experts' of the day and got paid just £1,000, most of which he paid to his helpers. Absolute shame on the British government for not affording him any honour or recognition, and shame on the Royal Society for not awarding him FRS. Tommy Flowers, I salute you and your magnificent achievements. True Genius, true patriot.

You might want to watch the The Forbin Project. Colossus is still Classified.

You are stupid

Probably 'plink, plink, plonk, plonk.' Think it was somebody banging away on a piano, but I loved it as well.

No you're all speaking American instead.

Why would we be speaking Russian?

@@andyconner8725 Because they would have got to Paris, we would have be glaring at them over the channel

Ok, go find an original then.

OK, 2 of them did go to GCHQ after WWII, but they were also broken up later.

That's what happens when someone copies the original and posts on RU-vid

Yeah right. It was Bill Tutte who broke the Lorenz SZ-40-42 (12 rotor) cipher machine and did that alone without ever seeing a Lorenz. After Bill did that incredible feat, his work went to Tommy Flowers who then conceived, designed, built and put into operational use, a new electronic, memory-based, digital high speed, computer called the Colossus, to accelerate breaking the Top Secret Lorenz encrypted ciphers of Hitler and the High Command of the German General Staff who used the Lorenz cipher system (through its teletypewriter) to send Top Secret command and control operational orders and directives to the senior general field officers in Command and in reply receive their very detailed operational and logistics status reports. Colossus began with Bill Tutte's work without which It would not have been created....Tommy Flowers made the Colossus and its rapid decryption process of Lorenz possible. Read Captain Jerry Roberts Book: LORENZ, (Jerry was a team leader, German linguist and cryptographer, the last living member of that team!