Ray Thompson: Engineer kept secret his role rebuilding Colossus code-breaker
PIONEERING electronics engineer Ray Thompson was such a modest man that it was not until the film The Imitation Game came out that he revealed to his family his own part in the history of code breaking.
Lymington resident Ray – who has died aged 84 – was only a teenager when he helped rebuild one of the famous Colossus computers, after it had been moved from Bletchley Park it to its new home at GCHQ where the UK’s secret service is based.
Created in 1943 by telephone engineer Tommy Flowers, Colossus was the world’s first programmable computer and is credited with helping to bring down Hitler.
Its role was to decipher radio teleprinter messages sent by the Nazis. By the end of the war there were 10 Colossus, each one so big it occupied the size of a small living room.
Measuring 7ft high, 17ft wide and 11ft deep, their existence was kept secret for 30 years.
People like Ray who worked on them were not allowed to talk about Colossus to anyone. But when the film, which was based on the life of Alan Turing, the master code breaker based at Bletchley Park, came out in 2014 he proudly revealed to his family his own moment in history.
It came after his Irish family had moved from Belfast during the Second World War after their home city was bombed heavily. He grew up and went to school in Cheltenham.
Near to the town is GCHQ, the headquarters of the government’s signals intelligence and information service.
When one of the Colossus computers was relocated to GCHQ in the 1950s Ray had to help solder it all together and provide technical support. It was a vital job – one mistake and one of the secret service’s most important weapons could be destroyed forever.
His family revealed: “He played down his role even then, saying it was just basic stuff. But it was certainly something that he could be proud of.”
Ray’s small part in that moment of Bletchley Park’s history was to inspire a career that saw him go onto become one of the earliest pioneers in digital computing and one so talented he formed part of the 1960s “brain drain” to America.
In 1966 he was poached by giant US electronics company Westinghouse to live and work in Pittsburgh where he moved with his wife Marian and their young family.
At the time the country was in the middle of the space programme and the transistor revolution, and was the undisputed world centre of cutting-edge technology.
'He had a wicked sense of humour'
His children said their father later admitted he was “slightly apprehensive” about the move fearing he would not be able to keep up with his US counterparts. In fact he excelled at his job and the family flourished in their new home.
His career had come as something of a surprise to Ray’s parents as he had not done well at grammar school. He used to boast that he had achieved the amazing rate of just 7% in his German exam, which he found highly amusing.
Born in Belfast in 1935, his father Isaac was a joiner while his grandfather had worked on the Titanic which was built at the Harland and Wolfe shipyard.
He left school at 16. After two years’ national service in the RAF, he joined Dowty Engineering. Recognising his talent, they paid his fees to go to Birmingham University full-time.
One of his sons said his father had been “fascinated” by electronics from an early age and he remembers as a child Ray bringing home early calculators he was working on.
He said: “We had great fun pressing all the numbers and making noises on them.”
Ray married Marian in July 1958, later saying it was the “best decision” he had ever made, and they were together for 61 years.
After having two children, Sean and Jeremy, they settled in Havant in 1961 where he began working for Plessey, the electronics, defence and telecommunications company.
In 1965 they had daughter, Karina, and it was shortly after she was born that the family moved to America.
Ray would often tell his family how, by sheer hard work and dedication, anyone could make it in life as his own experience proved, having been a council house boy who failed at school.
He returned with his family to the UK in 1968. A year later he rejoined Plessey in Havant, before moving to their Christchurch site, the family settling in Lymington.
Fourth child Rachel was born in 1972, and by the 1980s Ray had risen to the position of technical manager on Project Ptarmigan – the world-beating battlefield communications system for the British army and RAF.
'We will miss him very much'
Parts of it are now in the Science Museum in London as an example of innovative British engineering.
His family said: “Dad was very proud that the one of his pieces of kit, which was seen as a milestone of mobile phone technology, was in the museum.
“It was developed so that a radio communicator in the battlefield could reach anyone, including the prime minister, if he needed to.”
Ray also greatly enjoyed the Tuesday lunch drinks club organised by the Ptarmigan team, which he described as “world class”, organised.
After he retired Ray became a busy grandad of three but one of his most important roles was his membership of Lymington Rotary club.
His wife Marian said: “He was really committed to it. He was a very active foot soldier and it was really important to him to give as much back to the community as he could.”
Ray’s lifelong hobby had been woodwork, in which he was as skilled as he was with electronics. He could make beautiful furniture and his wood sculptures were displayed in galleries and museums across the country.
One of his sculptures, which he had cast into bronze, stands in the entrance of Dorchester Law Courts.
One of his other great loves was his pet Chihuahuas – one in particular called Jimmy, to whom he was absolutely devoted.
Marian said: “He was a very familiar sight in Lymington taking Jimmy for a walk due to the fact he was six feet tall and Jimmy was so tiny. Every year dad would take part in Rotary’s Santa wagon where Jimmy would make his appearance as a baby reindeer.
At the time he died at the age of 84 Ray and Marian were still living in the Lymington home they bought in 1981.
Even in retirement he had retained his lifelong interest in electronics and computing.
Until he became seriously ill this year, Ray was very much in demand across the area as a lecturer in artificial intelligence.
His children said: “Our father was a very modest man. He retained a complete fascination with electronics, computers and communications all his life – always keeping up to date with the latest developments.
“He also had a wicked sense of humour. We will miss him very much.”
