Alan Turing

England in 1926, where everyone knows their place. Specifically, Sherborne School in Dorset, established in AD 705 and at this time only admitting boys. Corporal punishment of younger boys by older ones is frequent and routine. The youngest boys are required to act as servants for the oldest. They do this by ringing a bell in the Dayroom, and the younger boys must compete to be assigned a task. Boys who do not receive and complete enough tasks will be caned on the buttocks by the prefects. Boys old enough to have outgrown this duty set their sights on becoming prefects themselves, thus have no interest in rebelling against the system. Younger boys are required to maintain a positive demeanour at all times; even briefly appearing miserable is an offence liable to punishment. For all boys, enthusiasm for House and school sporting events has to be exaggerated where it exists, and simulated where it does not. At cricket matches prefects patrol the crowd of spectators to detect and punish any “slackness” in the applause. The rivalry in sport is hellishly severe. The school library is the one place where the younger boys are free from being ordered to do chores for older boys, but to reach it they must avoid being forced into participating or spectating in sports, or being caught by an older boy who might give them enough chores to last the whole afternoon. The entire system is designed to knock any "cheek" or defiance out of the younger boys, and force them to submit completely to the older ones. The result is a community absorbed by competitiveness, full of snobbery and flunkeyism, where the prefects are privileged and arrogant, and the younger boys fawning and pathetic. Older boys frequently tease, mock or humiliate younger ones, and the younger boys' own peers will join in to avoid becoming victims themselves. The school hierarchy is very suspicious of the possibility of same sex relationships between boys, and anyone suspected of such forbidden relationships will be sent to the Headmaster by the prefects or teachers; the Headmaster will cane their buttocks severely as this is considered a serious offence. All boys are required to wear the school uniform including a dark blue blazer with the school crest on it. When outdoors they also wear a straw hat during summer. Not being dressed correctly, including forgetting one's hat, results in a caning from a prefect. The older boys wear white trousers, and the younger boys must wear very short shorts, which are also white. When using the swimming baths the boys must be nude. All boys are also required to participate in the school's cadet force for military training.

The son of a civil servant, born in London, Alan Turing already has a strong interest in science, and is eager to participate in all the academic and other opportunities that his new school has to offer. He is a competent runner and cyclist. He is disadvantaged by shyness, social awkwardness, and difficulty in comprehending others' motives and behaviour. His strangeness makes him an easy and obvious target for teasing and bullying from the other boys. He is also beginning to develop same-sex romantic attachments.