Alan Turing: New £50 note to feature pioneering Second World War codebreaker

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Second World War codebreaker Alan Turing will be the face of the new £50 note, the Bank of England announced on Monday. In 2016 the government unveiled an “Alan Turing law” that posthumously pardoned thousands of gay and bisexual men convicted under outdated gross indecency laws. It will also feature a picture of the British Bombe code-breaking machine built at Bletchley Park, as well as a quote Turing gave in an interview on 11 June 1949: “This is only a foretaste of what is to come and only the shadow of what is going to be.” The full note design, including all the security features, will be unveiled closer to it entering circulation. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Turing moved to the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park where he designed the British Bombe cryptographic machine.