10/08/2022
The University of Cambridge has given the go ahead for a new permanent sculpture honouring the memory of Alan Turing, the war hero, whose brilliant mathematical mind helped crack German cypher codes during the Second World War, and allowed Allied Forces to head to a swift victory. It is estimated that Mr Turing’s work saved millions of lives and ended the war some years earlier than would have otherwise been the case. Alan Turing was openly gay and an atheist at a time when the British establishment frowned on both. He was harassed and persecuted for his sexuality and sadly died without the recognition he deserved in 1954. However, in 2009, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologised on behalf of the government, saying “… It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present.” The new sculpture will be designed by Sir Anthony Gormley, who is most famous for the “Angel of the North”.
