Granddaddy of all PCs at Bletchley Park.

On 1st March 2007 Bletchley Park Post Office will celebrate one of the most significant events in the history of the computer. To coincide with the issue of Royal Mail’s “World of Invention” stamps it will issue a first day cover featuring Colossus. This was the World’s first semi-programmable electronic computer. In a unique historical twist it was designed and built by Post Office engineers. The first was installed at Bletchley Park in December 1943. Its job was to crack Adolf Hitler’s personal codes ahead of the D-day landings. The limited edition first day cover will feature rare wartime photographs of Colossus in action and the men responsible for this technological breakthrough. The stamps will be cancelled using a facsimile of a Colossus valve. Proceeds from the cover will go towards preserving Bletchley Park as a national heritage site. 1000 covers will be issued at £12.50 plus £1.50 post and packing.

A replica of a Colossus computer has been rebuilt at Bletchley Park and completion is expected by mid-summer. It represents years of work by a team of volunteers with little to go on but scraps of drawings and a few photographs. At the end of World War Two Winston Churchill ordered all trace of the Colossi computers destroyed so that such advanced technology did not fall into the hands of a future enemy. The rebuilt machine, which can be viewed at Bletchley Park, is featured on the rear of the first day cover.

The first day cover can only be obtained direct from Bletchley Park Post Office, The Mansion, Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, MK3 6EB, through the web site at www.bletchleycovers.com or by calling +44(0)1908 272690/631797.
ENDS

Media contact: Terry Mitchell. +44 (00 1604 781440. email: terry@ltmp.co.uk

Note to editors: Jpeg of cover available if required.