There’s clever, there’s brilliant and there’s Alan Turing His legacy so meaningful and enduring Brighter than all the rest Inventor of the Turing test An intellectual hero.. he would get my vote These days he’s on a fifty pound banknote He was the genius mathematician Who once had a secret mission Breaking the enigma code Delivered a hefty payload The Nazi secrets were an open book Turing and his team took a very good look Throughout his short lifespan He squared up to prejudice and stigma The enigmatic man Who broke the machine named enigma What he did at Bletchley Park Left quite a mark People say he shortened the war By some two years or more A huge debt was owed him by his country Thanks to him, still a land for the free But the world was not all that kind To the man with the genius mind It was not a good time to be gay And Alan Turing was made to pay His self-styled impiety Was no help in that society Throughout his short lifespan He squared up to prejudice and stigma The enigmatic man Who broke the machine named enigma There’s clever, there’s brilliant and there’s Alan Turing His legacy so meaningful and enduring The father of computer science His suicide an act of defiance
