QI Compilation | Best Of Spies & Codes

Follow QI on Twitter ▶ / qikipedia
Follow QI on Facebook ▶ / officialqi
Follow QI on Instagram ▶ / theqielves
Subscribe on KZbin ▶ / theqielves
For more visit ▶ qi.com

[@mickleclaire8483]

“Actually we gave the secret of the Colossus to the CIA” “Oh, superb!” the withering sarcasm in Mitchell’s voice could level a building

[@clayz1]

Churchill said give them what they want, as the price of freedom I guess. Those clever Brits though.

[@BigBazz-Clips]

The Churchill quote was about the actual code breakers at Bletchley park, not the americans

[@alexandercanella4479]

@@clayz1 They only finished paying off the price of freedom to the US in 2006. Price of freedom being WW2 debt.

[@kronk358]

Makes sense to give such a powerful weapon to your most powerful ally

[@michaelsommers2356]

1) The CIA didn't exist until after the war. 2) The CIA was and is not involved in SIGINT. 3) There were Americans working at BP alongside the British.

[@1969Kismet]

David Mitchell's reaction on being told the computer concept had been given to the CIA must be the epitome of Britishness.

[@dw999]

With respect, there is no such thing as "Britishness" (or American-ness, or Frenchness, etc.) -- you need only look at how different each of the British persons on this show are. Please think beyond stereotypes -- they're never of use, and they really have no place in a deeply troubled world. Thanks.

[@1969Kismet]

@@dw999 With respect. With respect, there are such things as humour, light-heartedness and trust. My comment was just a bit of fun. It was meant as a joke and nothing else. Although you don't know me you assume (which makes an a...well, you know.) I am ill-intentioned or ignorant and neither is very pleasant on a sunny Saturday morning. It is the prerogative of humour to deal with stereotypes and although I have never seen a Frenchman with a beret AND a baguette or heard a Brit say: 'By Jeeves' in real life, I instantly recognise them in comedy. So, just to be clear and with the utmost respect and trust in your well-meant words, just chill and brighten up ; ) Even in these troubled times, a laugh is better than a sulk. Thanks.

[@Bhalforii]

@@dw999 with all due respect you are a damp towel

[@rachelhorwitz9086]

1969Kismet Don’t worry- normal people reading your comment understood what you meant. X

[@1969Kismet]

@@rachelhorwitz9086 Thank you Rachel. I wasn't worried, really. We all have bad days and I guess (hope) it was just that ; )

[@IgnisPyro]

That bit about the Morse code being actually a cypher and not being invented with that purpose by morse was genuinely surprising to learn

[@chsxtian]

I'm afraid I have to correct them there, though. They're misapplying terminology from the field of cryptography to something that's got nothing to do with cryptography. Vail's code is not a cryptographic cipher. It's a code used to translate the latin alphabet to beeps. It doesn't keep anything secret, nor was it intended to. This is a common mistake that people make, they confuse 'encoding' in the context of information processing with 'encoding' in the context of cryptography, even though these refer to entirely different things. In the context of information processing you're talking about translating information from the outside world into something a machine can process, whereas in cryptography you're talking about an algorithm to keep information secret from any eavesdroppers or unintended recipients.

[@IgnisPyro]

@@chsxtian that makes sense now you say that. Its like a binary code, that isn't meant to hide information as well right. you can use 'code' in multiple ways of course, but you can't assign multiple purposes to 'cipher', is that what you say? Cipher is solely for cryptography?

[@DanEllis]

@@chsxtian I'm not sure I entirely agree, since it seems to be a kind of substitution cipher in construction, if not in intent.

[@philliphayden2727]

@@chsxtian former cryptologist and winner of the US Navy F. B. Morse award, spot on.

[@jackbradley8897]

@@philliphayden2727 i wanna hang out with you. you seem like you’ve seen some shit

[@SteelyF]

The reactions of the panel at the end of the last clip really highlights Fry's genius as a raconteur. They look like they've been captivated by a movie or a magic show.

[@johndeever]

Exactly-don’t you appreciate when a show trusts its audience enough NOT to be funny for a sometimes extended spell? We’ll stick with you, we’re patient! This was a George Carlin secret, he could go long stretches without a laugh without losing his audience. Love it.

[@charlieearley511]

Bunking a train and shouting "I'm a spy" at the ticket inspector whilst running away has real Archer vibes

[@il6993]

By the way the morse code in the thumbnail translates to “blue whale”

[@kossend1]

Brilliant

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

But it's NEVER the blue whale!

[@AwesomepianoTURTLES]

You mean Vail’s Cypher

[@geofffitzpatrick4602]

Love

[@eggfooyoung24]

The bite out of the apple logo was put there to give it scale, otherwise it could have been mistaken for a cherry.

[@Joe-hl2ts]

That's Quite Interesting.

[@Voltaic_Fire]

Awww.

[@Pagliacci_Rex]

And the whole Apple thing is because Jobs was a fruitarian. More like "I wish I was even remotely less of a saltine cracker of a person to think of such an awesome thing." Macintosh comes from the original creator's favorite type of apple.

[@dianaott]

I will never not lose my composure watching Alan do his imitation of Mick Jagger going through a narrow door.

[@jimmyusee]

Jagger in the kitchen. 😂 👍

[@bobmat343]

Don't you think it's about time you did a "Best of the Klaxon!"?!

[@79pants]

Now that would be an irritating video.

[@samdherring]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b2WoppJjeNV4bsk Not "Best of the Klaxon" but it's Klaxon themed.

[@BLT1967too]

Surely we would need to see this in such a compilation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZanm5SHg86Hpck

[@NewMessage]

I had no idea the Ministry Of Silly Walks had an Intelligence division.

[@JohnMiller-oz7gv]

I recently saw a tshirt that had this design.

[@br4dl33y]

David’s face when he said that right answer😂 so proud of himself

[@neilperry2224]

I worked in the village of Bletchley and never thought of visiting or extending my time and visiting Bletchley Park. I intend to do so as its important and I enjoy the mixture of numbers.

[@Pagliacci_Rex]

So did you go?

[@gondolaone7748]

The only thing I want in life is to be called "top man" by a real chap

[@user-bf8ud9vt5b]

Come to Australia, you might be lucky and be called a "top bloke".

[@abhishekramchandran7067]

@@user-bf8ud9vt5b No! Top man or bust :D

[@Voltaic_Fire]

I say, from your comment I believe you may be a top man and wholly suited to our endeavour.

[@jacktherimmer]

Good form. Better than being called a bottom man from a top chap.

[@FloridaManMatty]

@@jacktherimmer 🤣

[@dielaughing73]

How extraordinary to hear today's Oscar Wilde speak about Alan Turing.

[@oliviadaly4795]

Today's Oscar Wilde? Who are you talking about (i mean in the clip; obviously I know Oscar Wilde)

[@nfmonteiro]

@@oliviadaly4795 Stephen Fry played Oscar Wilde in the film "Wilde"

[@gwishart]

@@nfmonteiro Is 23 years ago, "today"?

[@carolynworthington8996]

@@gwishart yes.

[@75IFFY]

That last sentence; Churchill saying "Give them what they want." Makes me almost shed a tear, god bless you Winny!

[@dianaott]

The day that I watch Alan Davies imitate Mick Jagger going through a narrow door and don’t laugh out loud will be a sad, sad day indeed.

[@skunkrat01]

Keep the compilations coming elves. Love em

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

All I want to see is Jay Foreman on QI.

[@Trockenmatt]

With Tom Scott as his partner

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

^^^

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

And bring back Brian Cox with Ross Noble (for bants), and then Ayoade and Mitchell for the full experience.

[@cammarc]

That would be brilliant, it needs to happen at some point.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Nah, it should be Jay with Mark Cooper-Jones. And David Mitchell with Helen Keen for the opposition.

[@hilotakenaka]

Surely instead of Vail’s Cypher it should be Vail’s Veil

[@Voltaic_Fire]

Oh how I wish it were.

[@jean-pierresmyth742]

"We have the secret to cracking the German enigma code. It's a giant computer, and we call it Colossus." "We'll hide it it a giant obvious mansion in a well known area of rural britain."

[@biblemaniswatchingyoumastu1920]

I mean it worked 🤷

[@amyshaw893]

not really that obvious to have a mansion in britain though, is it? i mean theyre not common but theyres quite a lot of them. and you wouldnt expect someone to be breaking german codes in a country house

[@blackbird5634]

Fry's gasping and wheezing is tough to listen to. He's practically drooling on the desk.🤣🤣

[@Thunk787]

10:00 The previous PM had written the same memo, didn't work out so well...

[@jphilb]

Under appreciated comment!

[@Whitsoxrule1]

well done

[@Voltaic_Fire]

Haha!

[@Knight-Bishop]

😬😂

[@canespugnaces2126]

I've learned more on these KZbin videos than in school.

[@geckokid8265]

Honestly "the Veil Cypher" sounds quite a bit cooler than "the Morse code" to me

[@CrazySteve113]

If anyone's wondering and too lazy to decode it, the morse code in the thumbnail says "BLUE WHALE", naturally.

[@ConstantChaos1]

Of course it does

[@WWIIDDSS]

Adding up everything said to have “shortened the war,” it appears WWII ended like 20 years before it was expected to.

[@zorangesaft]

What are some other things

[@Voltaic_Fire]

Wars have been known to go on for 40 or 100 years, we're still in the middle East for example. Yes I know that's a very different kind of affair but these things can drag on for a very long time if anyone of influence finds a way to profit from it.

[@Voltaic_Fire]

@@zorangesaft Tanks.

[@ConstantChaos1]

Did you make sure to add that bad sauerkraut hitler had that made him feel a bit unwilling shortened the war by 12 min?

[@CoolAsFreya]

If "Morse code" is actually a cypher, then "enigma code" also by that same definition would be a cypher too, just a very complicated one

[@bevstarrunner9472]

Coming up next: 8 out of 10 Cats does the Enigma Code

[@jackrichardgeorgewing5657]

I mean, technically speaking it was the Germans who first cracked the enigma code...

[@rockinthecazbah4]

I love Stephen, but I'm glad who he handed the reins over to, Sandi is wonderful.

[@oliviadaly4795]

Exactly. I kinda miss the old ones cos Stephen was brilliant but Sandi's ones are hilarious too. Depends on who you get tho I went to a recording and it wasnt hilarious. Funny but not hilarious I wouldve preferred someone i find really funny like Jimmy Carr or Ross Noble

[@rockinthecazbah4]

@@oliviadaly4795 A little disappointing but still I'd kill to go to a live show. You should try and go to an 8 out of 10 cats or 8O10C does Countdown, although I think Jimmy is a bit more scripted on that show than in others.

[@Shelsight]

@@oliviadaly4795 nah - they're funny but wld both take over. The host needs to guide and steer but let the info and guests & responses be the main focus. Besides, Jimmy's fake laugh 'uplift' would drive me spare...

[@GirGir183]

I think sandi ruined it for me. I was drifting away from qi for a couple of series, but beginning of series N was the nail in the coffin. She wasn't a patch on William G. Stewart in 15 to 1 either. I only watched about 1/4 of one episode of the new version tho.

[@fisherking7798]

What was James Bonds job? He was an ornithologist and that's a fact that I think is interesting enough to mention on QI

[@060steve]

Well he certainly picked out a lot of birds ;)

[@AwesomepianoTURTLES]

gynecology

[@fisherking7798]

James Bond wrote a book about birds of the West Indies which was in Ian Flemings bookcase that's where he got the name from

[@jb888888888]

I thought he was a sales rep from Universal Exports.

[@cr10001]

The ornithologist was the real-life James Bond, who Fleming copied the name from for his Agent 007. As you said. Google tells me the two actually met www.realjamesbond.net/2020/01/the-famous-james-bond-ian-fleming-photo.html

[@NuncNuncNuncNunc]

Toss your secret tech and off your top boffin. Brilliant!

[@brydon5721]

I'm already moist XD Bloody love Jo Brand!

[@ZeHoSmusician]

More like, 'that escalated quickly'... ^^

[@CH-iy3kd]

This was a great sequence 😂

[@michaelodonoghue7464]

German Radio Operators apparently had a bad habit which helped break the Code. Each Radio Operator had a unique 3 Letter Identifier, which they were in the habit of transmitting Twice.

[@CharizardMaster69]

didn’t they also end every transmission with “Heil Hitler”?

[@ChaineYTXF]

Always nice to see Sean Lock

[@reaperoflostsouls4323]

@Stephen Fry. Alan Turin and his team didn't build Colossus. Tommy Flowers built it and he was a postman.

[@davidholden2658]

Thank you for mentioning this. He designed and built it and had to use his own money to buy the parts. Turing told him what he needed the machine to do but it was his design. He never gets any credit even though he created the first electronic, programmable computer. Calling him a postman is a bit of a stretch though, he worked at the GPO research centre developing electronic exchanges.

[@Robin-Rhys]

David Holden actually it was a mathematician Bill Tutte (even less well known than Flowers) who came up with the keystream idea that allowed colossus to break Lorenz.

[@reaperoflostsouls4323]

@@davidholden2658 He put over £1000 of his own money that project and all our Government give him was £1000 he didn't even get any credit for what he built.

[@DeborahFishburn]

And he never gets credit.

[@reaperoflostsouls4323]

@@DeborahFishburn Never has and i doubt he ever will. When in fact he built the worlds first electric computer and will never be remembered for it.

[@JoeBleasdaleReal]

5:55 David Mitchell releases his inner Mark Corrigan

[@LeClaw]

I would have loved to have been at MI5 when that KGB phone call came through about that crap spy 😂

[@ConstantChaos1]

Apparently it was like an actual almost meme among intelligence operatives My great uncle was OSS and he knew one guy who actually got pulled from the field because they realised any time anyone mentioned that he would laugh and that was reason enough to pull him

[@KokkiePiet]

The first Turing complete electronic computer was not build by Flanders & Turing, it was build by Konrad Zuse in Münich, the Z3, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)

[@leanneblake4248]

Wonderful.

[@TheMultiGamerOfficial]

THE CODE IN THE THUMBNAIL SAYS "BLUE WHALE"

[@lucasc5622]

ok

[@EleanorPeterson]

Ah, well. Remember the Tizard Mission? A bloody great big box full of Most Secret [sic!] codes and ciphers and jet engine plans and radar research and rocket science and new metallurgical ideas and the design for an atomic bomb, and, ooh, all sorts of other juicy things Uncle Sam was only too pleased to acquire for nowt. Sigh. Still, at least when Britain f*cks up, you get hear about it and have a laugh. Unlike some other places, which are (of course) practically perfect in every way. Or else. ;-)

[@atomicexistentialism8428]

Not even getting into their betrayal over the Suez crisis

[@derin111]

As someone with dual British and German nationality @1.45 tears me between hilarious laughter and utter embarrassment at their complete meat-headed stupidity! 🤦🏽‍♂️🤣

[@jackbennett6114]

Richard Osman is so clever and funny

[@jimmyusee]

A very bright guy indeed. 👍

[@butoolkhan2715]

I unlearn so much from QI! Morse isn’t Morse! Who knew! Obviously somoine in QI!

[@airflyerflyvids7875]

I wonder why Suzie Dent was never on this show?

[@221b-Maker-Street]

Because she's not a comedian? She's very bright, but she's a lexicographer and etymologist. Also, she's Channel 4 brand, and they don't tend to mix and match.

[@devilsadvocate1597]

Just to prove what a shit show 2020 is, RIP Sean Connery, your films will last forever though 🙂🙂🙂

[@rodneyquinn2528]

Love Richard Osman as a benchman, as a presenter I find him a bit boring, but i love his ego

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

fine

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

Rip Alan Turing, deserved much better.

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

JGW 97 yes really

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

JGW 97 Why not?

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

JGW 97 I wasn’t talking about special treatment anyway, not being killed isn’t a special treatment.

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

JGW 97 Not all laws put in place are moral right?

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

JGW 97 Where did you see that he killed himself!

[@Supertimegamingify]

I hope that Juan Pujol-Garcia is mentioned.

[@Adrianovaz2007]

Damn this is the first I read about this chap, tremendous work!

[@Jaiykk]

Really surprised that Rob didn't do a Mick Jagger impression

[@ingoverveer2516]

Wasn't there a morsecode hidden in the qi-intro music? They should have started with that.

[@timmartindale75]

The 1970's comedy(?) "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em" had intro music (which I think was written by Ronnie Hazelhurst) whose notes spelled out the title in Morse Code.

[@patriciameara3336]

Alan 0 Stephen hero

[@dw999]

I'm pretty sure that the TV series "Morse" (a detective show) spelled out the name of the killer in Morse code at the start of each ep.

[@gwishart]

@@dw999 They did for the first few series, then they got complaints (mainly from radio operators) that it was spoiling the plot. After that they started including the name of the killer and a few other character names as decoys.

[@mhoney7899]

I didn't really understand the last part the british were spending a lot of money on Colossus to decipher germany's lorenz, and they found that it was costing a lot of money, so churchill said give them what they want? Referring to giving the colossus to the americans i assume? there seems to be something missing in the context?

[@kingfacedown4132]

It’s saying that a lot of people in the government thought the whole project was a waste of money but Churchill was convinced it was worth it, so he said to give them whatever they want so that they could complete the project.

[@CaptChrispy]

Enigma Code segment looks dressed to play Clue(do).

[@phillwainewright4221]

James Bond's job was Commander in the Royal Navy.

[@amosungar5248]

I do hope they told the CIA to always have a picture of a chicken ready

[@tomhaskett5161]

It's a shame nobody mentions Tommy Flowers when talking about Lorenz and Colossus.

[@HankHopeless]

ROFLOL.... ( Jeg ryger på røven af grin ) Nøgleperson ? Couldn't be more Danish...... -And nobody outside Scandinavia has a doggone chance of knowing what it means :-D

[@cptkirkpyro5656]

wow that sucks that you cant have alcohol in the AM in Britain. how do you have a Mimosa at brunch?

[@AsrielDreemurr56]

The real spy here is Matt Lucas dressed as 47

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

lul

[@dw999]

3:31 -- No. Gait = "a person's manner of walking." Therefore, it can't be detected when one is still. The way that one holds oneself can be equally distinctive, but that's not a gait.

[@phunkymind23]

That Morse guy looked a bit like Nick Grimshaw.

[@itwasagoodideaatthetime7980]

Which episode was the first bit from? I don't remember it.

[@nzd3742]

Series O, Episode 15 - Occupations And Offices

[@itwasagoodideaatthetime7980]

@@nzd3742 Thank you for that. 🙂

[@zapkvr]

Rob Brydon should do more telly

[@smoothie9931]

Feel so bad for A.Turing, for what he was put through. Just think, he could have lived a normal life and created things we wouldn't have even imagined. Perhaps the basis for other machines that would have also changed the world forever :(

[@Mark_Bickerton]

Surely it was the Germans that first cracked the Enigma machine!

[@gabrielpoole7292]

You're technically correct. The best kind of correct

[@murunbuchstanzangur]

Everyone remembers Alan Turing. No one remembers Danny flowers.

[@Weissman111]

It was Tommy Flowers (who basically built Colossus) and Bill Tutte (who basically cracked Lorenz).

[@sofieturesson]

First clip: Panel: all dress like men to look like spies Sandy: the best spy was a woman and the worst was a man

[@NalyKalZul]

i spy someone else wanting that fabled first comment, instead ill steal it hide it away like a good little spy.

[@oliviadaly4795]

There's still speculation that Turing's death wasn't actually suicide...

[@stephenconnolly3018]

I think the Poles worked out the mathematics not the code itself?

[@CaptChrispy]

A segment from: OUTWITTING THE HUN My Escape from a German Prison Camp BY LIEUT. PAT O'BRIEN Royal Flying Corps [Pg 192] [While holed up in a house in Belgium] "From the keyhole I could see, for instance, a shop window on the other side of the street, several houses down the block. All day long German soldiers would be passing in front of the house, and I noticed that practically every one of them would stop in front of this store window and look in. Occasionally a soldier on duty bent would hurry past, but I think nine out of ten of them were sufficiently interested to spend at least a minute, and some of them three or four minutes, gazing at whatever was being exhibited in that window, although I noticed that it failed to attract the Belgians. "I have a considerable streak of curiosity in me and I couldn't help wondering what it could be in that window which almost without exception seemed to interest German soldiers, but failed to hold the Belgians, and after conjuring my brains for a while on the problem I came to the conclusion that the shop must have been a book-shop and the window contained German magazines, which, naturally enough, would be of the greatest interest to the Germans, but of none to the Belgians. "At any rate, I resolved that as soon as night came I would go out and investigate the window. When I got the answer I laughed so loud that I was afraid for the moment I must have attracted the attention of the neighbors, but I couldn't help it. The window was filled with huge quantities of sausage. The store was a butcher-shop, and one of the principal things they sold, apparently, was sausage."

[@janbruggemann5636]

Oh yeah ze germans better be in this

[@goodshowmanythanks]

Who is this Lockalike at 4:00

[@SaintPhoenixx]

Charlie Higson.

[@CricketEngland]

He is a big fan of James Bond I believe

[@gwishart]

@@CricketEngland He wrote a lot of the "Young Bond" novels.

[@user-yv2cz8oj1k]

Typical BBC, giving the credit for Colossus to Turing when it should belong to Tommy Flowers. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Flowers

[@Floydrush-zx9wz]

I was going to say the same thing, Tommy designed and Built, Colossus using his own money, and built Colossus II in time for the D-Day landing, with Eisenhower receiving a note, summarizing a Colossus decrypt. This confirmed that Adolf Hitler wanted no additional troops moved to Normandy, as he was still convinced that the preparations for the Normandy landings were a feint. Handing back the decrypt, Eisenhower announced to his staff, "We go tomorrow".Earlier, a report from Field Marshal Erwin Rommel on the western defenses was decoded by Colossus and revealed that one of the sites chosen as the drop site for a US parachute division was the base for a German tank division and the site was changed, again saving lives. Tommy Flowers deserves more recognition, and I really thought Stephen Fry, for all his "Tecno-Geek" interest would have brought Tommy's name up.

[@Superwasp]

And Liam Gallagher is actually 47

[@francessev2210]

Isn't Charles Babbage the father of computing?

[@atomicexistentialism8428]

He's the grandfather. As he technically didn't invent the electrical computer. However he did invent the mechanical

[@lizadams7662]

Any mention if the women mathematicians at Bletchley Park???? No???

[@FreakyLeek]

Well please come on, don't give it away.

[@ulrikschackmeyer848]

Who were the first to be able to read the Enigma code? One would guess the Germans?

[@kallumproud2118]

!info

[@tommiller1315]

That is an air gun! (Walther LP53)

[@neilperry2224]

That's the Labour government for you, we gave the yanks colossus, and the Russians jet engines.

[@TheHutchy01]

Turing's team was a man named Tommy Flowers, who and I apologise to the Turing supporters for this but was the real father of computing

[@sockington1]

turing had nothing to do with colossus - it was designed and built with his own money by tommy flowers

[@noelpucarua2843]

Eisenhower said the cracking of the Enigma code shortened the war by 2 years. From September '39 to Dec '41, when America wasn't in the war anyway.

[@mr.dalerobinson]

What the didn't mention was that it was a postman that did a lot of the hardware work of Turings computer and that the English gave other members of the empire liberated enigma machines after the war without telling them that they had cracked the code...

[@OSDevon]

FUCK'S SAKE, THAT INTRO IS SO LOUD!

[@The_LIC]

I usually watch these compilations for the smattering of new clips within them, but theres only one here, the rest are just ones already posted but with interesting bits cut off.

[@rutgerb]

Intresting

[@fouzanium]

Alan Turing > Robert Oppenheimer

[@dogwalker666]

Using that logic binary code should be binary cypher which it is not.

[@RainbowSunshineRain]

The Dog Walker No, binary is a code.

[@EebstertheGreat]

And in computing, a "code word" can refer to a binary string that represents a single letter or even less. For instance, a typical implementation of Hamming(7,4) code represents half a character with each code word. It is true that traditionally in cryptography, the terms "code" and "cipher" are used in mutually exclusive ways as described, but this has never been the case outside cryptography. Morse code is neither a cryptographic code nor a cipher. It's a binary encoding.

[@dogwalker666]

@@RainbowSunshineRain exactly my point and therefore so is morse

[@dogwalker666]

@@EebstertheGreat agreed

[@MrHEC381991]

Have you seen any German spies? *Nein*

[@meridamcgonagall-snape]

Nine!? Caps got his work cut out for him then!

[@neilperry2224]

But if we hadn't deciphered the enigma, we'd probably be looking at a totally different world. Would Germany still be run as fascist country. Or would Japanese cars be driven to this day. But the air war would be going on the rate it is? Would we be more secular as countries. On giving the Americans colossus, the Labour government gave Russia 2 of the most upto date jet engines which the Russians then xreated there jet engines from . So woohoo the labour government another cock up

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

"He does have a fabulously lithe walk" Cant tell if thats British or just gay.

[@Ludak021]

lol, UK was developing nuclear anything, ever :D Soviets needed UK nuclear secrets :D Don't mind the US, and captured Germans, but the UK nuclear program...It's like Yugoslavia sold space program to NASA....Hilarious.

[@op8288]

Technological progress isn't straightforward, and no country can hold a claim to inventing a particular device. As mentioned, the Poles cracked the first iteration of enigma, with a mechanical device that could be placed on a desk. When the third and fourth rotors were equipped to enigma, the Polish solution no longer worked. It was, however, a vital step forwards to cracking the problem. The nuclear program started in the UK, under codename Tube Alloys, but because it was so expensive, and because the potential for a German bomber to hit the facility was so high, it was moved to the US, who then completed the program. The entire idea of sending U-235 into a bigger bit of U-235 and causing a runaway reaction was developed in the UK before the war. The Tizard mission is probably one of the most generous things the UK has ever done. US research had progressed well beyond anything the British could do, due to the UK being bombed. I'm personally a little miffed that the US rebuked the UK on that. It was potential to create a strong technological union between the two countries. In that regard, the US rocketry program is German in the same way that the Manhattan project is British.

[@england902]

That Alan Davis actually thinks he’s funny

[@jasonp3253]

The computer was invented in Iowa USA not Britain.

[@Maeve_Rose]

techically the Babbage computer was invented in london in 1822

[@twinsonic]

Sure.. Iowa, hahahaha.

[@petesmith9472]

Scripted.