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Social media too helped spread the word. In 2009 Stephen Fry, encouraged by Sue Black,
tweeted:^9
#bpark You might want to sign the Save Bletchley Park petition. Read @Dr_Black’s reasons why
on http://savingbletchleypark.org – BP won us the war!
It is certainly an appealing idea that Bletchley Park was saved by social media, and so was
ultimately the beneficiary of what was pioneered under its own roof nearly 70 years previously,
namely the modern digital electronic age. But opinions differ over how significant a role social
media actually played. In the final analysis, Twitter and other social media appear to have had
only a relatively minor impact on visitor numbers. Surveys filled in by visitors to Bletchley Park
indicate that less than one per cent of the meteoric rise in visitor numbers during 2008–14 was
directly attributable to social media. More significant factors included a visit by Prince Charles
and the Duchess of Cornwall in 2008, and two Antiques Roadshow TV programmes, filmed at
Bletchley Park and broadcast in 2009, each to an audience of 6 million.
The modern era
In July 2011 Queen Elizabeth visited Bletchley Park, declaring:^10
It is impossible to overstate the deep sense of admiration, gratitude and national debt that we
owe to all those men and, especially, women. . . . This was the place of geniuses such as Alan
figure 19.2 The bombe rebuild at Bletchley Park.
Photograph by Jonathan Bowen.