Turing 'created blueprint for modern computer'

Computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing has been given a posthumous royal pardon, overturning his 1952 conviction for homosexuality.

Turing's work during World War II helped accelerate Allied efforts to read German Naval messages enciphered with the Enigma machine.

Prof Barry Cooper, author of Alan Turing: His Work and Impact, told Today's John Humphrys that Turing "produced a paper which within it had a blueprint for the modern computer".

Baroness Trumpington commended Mr Turing's significant role in World War II.

She noted: "Until Turing came along, our ships were being sunk by German submarines at a rate of knots"

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday 24 December 2013.