Smith was Specialist Writer of the Year in the 2006 UK Press Awards and broke many major exclusives, including the Downing Street Memos. He is the author of several best-selling books on intelligence and is an expert on how spies and special forces operate.

‘The Secrets of Station X’, is the definitive history of Bletchley Park and is out now. “A fascinating book which reminds us of the enormous contribution made by the men and women of Bletchley Park to the wartime fight for freedom.”
Professor Richard J Aldrich, author of GCHQ

On receiving the award John Harper said “I particularly wish to thank the Open University, Dr Anthony Lucas-Smith for his Eulogy and to all those who suggested this honour and in particular members of the Bletchley Park Trust who supported this award. I suppose that many people have found themselves in the same situation where a team leader is awarded an honour but where it is the team members who really deserve the praise.  There were as many as 60 people helping or supporting in some way or another over 14 years. “

John Harper, a qualified Chartered Engineer, is a key member of those visionary enthusiasts who undertook the long and complex process of recreating the technology of WW2.  He has been the driving force in preserving much historical material in danger of being lost, persuasively obtaining funding, industrial and governmental support, often in an environment of disinterest.

Anthony Lucas-Smith, from the Open University said “we are proud to honour John Harper, distinguished engineer and cryptology expert, a man of vision yet extremely modest about his achievements.  His ground-breaking work on the origins of electronic computing, particularly in the context of codebreaking at Bletchley Park has, after many years, become widely appreciated.”

The WW2 Bombe Rebuild is on public display at Bletchley Park, and is normally demonstrated at weekends.

Irrompe l’atmosfera della guerra con il suono fortissimo e devastante del bombardiere Lancaster. La potenza dell’impianto audio multicanale, che utilizza una complessa spazializzazione del suono, e la tridimensionalità del video renderanno reale la presenza dell’aereo, come se volasse sulla testa del pubblico. L’elemento principale di questo quadro è The Bombe, la macchina inventata da Turing per decodificare Enigma. L’attore giocherà una partita a scacchi, metafora della vita del matematico che ha lavorato per il proprio paese difendendo il suo re: Turing durante la guerra fu chiamato a servire la monarchia britannica nei servizi segreti. Durante la partita a scacchi ci sarà un costante rapporto con le interazioni del suono e del video che seguiranno le mosse del giocatore; alla vittoria di Turing avverrà la decodifica di un messaggio. Il video, caratterizzato dalla rappresentazione dei rotori di Enigma e The Bombe, dalle valvole, dalle lettere per l’invio dei messaggi e dai codici di ricezione, arriverà a mostrare il testo del messaggio. Musicalmente, questo quadro vedrà svilupparsi la generazione e l’elaborazione in tempo reale di suoni di sintesi attraverso il sintetizzatore Buchla.