Alan Turing and his team famously cracked the Enigma Code to give the Allied Forces a crucial advantage in the Second World War.

Alongside fellow code-breaker Gordon Welchman, he built a machine known as the Bombe, allowing signals intelligence officers to read communications to and from the German Air Force.

Now, GCHQ is hoping the nation’s children will try to seize the initiative against their own family members and solve “seven fiendish brainteasers” in the intelligence agency’s annual Christmas Challenge.

The chief ‘puzzler’, Colin, said they are designed “to test everything from codebreaking and mathematical analysis to lateral thinking and creativity”.

The cyber spies want “groups of classmates, families and friends working together, combining their different strengths to reveal

See Full Page