Tommy Rose called his group together and begged for silence in his unmistakable East London accent. “Sorry, chaps, but we’re at the end of the road. We won’t build another Colossus.” Gesturing to the computing machine that spanned the entire room at the back, width and height, he continued, “This one, the eleventh, is our last. We weren’t given the job of building any other types of computers, either. The work’s gone elsewhere, to capable hands, mind, but not here. I think we had a good run, but all things must end. I’ll keep my position here at the GPO and take up electronic switching research again. I want to speak to each of you individually this afternoon about leaving and opportunities open. I’ll miss both our work and our working together. The war’s over and we must all move on, just
