The Imitation Game (mild Spoliers) and Meteors

Saturday was mostly spent running errands - my car now has nice new brake discs and pads, and as had something underneath tightened slightly so there is no longer a tiny oil leak, I've bought the last few christmas gifts and have posted most of the ones which need posting (one more to go!) and bought various bits and pieces of food (I am hosting christmas this year, for the first time!)

While the car was being worked on, I went over to Wells, which was looking very pretty in the winter sunshine. We had a heavy frost overnight, which was only melting as the sun got round. (the picture is of the Bishop's Palace) 

It was rather chilly, but lovely to look at! 

I also did the kinds of things one has to do at weekends, laundry and cleaning and the like.

In the evening, I headed back out in order to go to the cinema, to see The Imitation Game. 

I first learned about Alan Turing when I went to see Derek Jacobi in a play called Breaking the Code, in Bath, in around 1987 (the play, still starring Jacobi as Turing, was made into a TV production by the BBC in around 1996).  More recently, I've had the chance to visit Bletchley Park, and 2 years ago visited the Turing exhibition at the Science Museum in London 

'Bombe' room. (C) Bletchley Park

He was an extraordinary man, and his achievements, both during the war and in relation to the development of computers, cannot be overstated.

The film is interesting, although (perhaps inevitably) takes a fair number of liberties with the facts - everything from Turning's age when his friend Christopher died, to the sub-plot about Soviet spies, to the suggestion that Turing himself would break his silence to tell a police detective about his war-time activities! 

The there is also implication that Turing has Aspergers Syndrome, given scenes when, as a schoolboy, he is upset by carrots and peas touching one another, and another scene, later, when he appears not to understand that he is being invited to join his colleagues for lunch. I did find this slightly irritating - it seemed to be there in order for Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley) to then teach him how to interact with other people.

However, despite these liberties, the film is still extremely good - Cumberbatch's Turing comes across as ferociously intelligent,  emotionally vulnerable, and very, very logical. 

Mark Strong, as Stewart Menzies, (MI6) was delightfully smooth and Machiavellian, and Charles Dance, who played Commander Denniston was excellent as an old-school Navy type (which I suspect may be another variation on the truth. But which makes for a good drama!)

I think I shall be buying this when it comes out on DVD. 

It was a very clear, cold evening, and after getting home I went out to see whether I could spot any of the Geminid Meteor shower, which was due to be at its peak. I went out a little after 10 pm, and despite only being in my back garden (with  a street light in front of my house, and other in the road behind) I nevertheless was able to see masses of stars, and saw 5 or 6 meteors in the 10 minutes or so I was out. Which was nice.

I did peer out when I woke up around 1 a.m., as I believe that peak density was due to be visible around 2, but it have become quite cloudy and overcast by that point, and I could only see a very few stars, so I decided against getting out of bed and going back outside for star-gazing!