ARTIST Maxime Xavier of Lyme Regis has drawn on her creative talents to help mark the 100th anniversary of the birthday of a man who helped crack the Enigma Code.

She wanted to do her bit to make sure Alan Turing gets the recognition he deserves by painting a life-sized portrait of him.

She says the National Portrait Gallery now wants to hang the painting and that she has been contacted by Bletchley Park which might want to show it.

But Maxime is disappointed that only three people who have seen the work in her Studio 19 in Lyme have any idea who Alan Turing was.

She said: “I wanted to paint him because he deserves far more recognition and gratitude than he receives now.

“He is the father of computers, so every time someone taps on the keyboard it is because of him.

“Also through his work at Bletchley Park he helped cracked the code of the German Enigma machine leading to an early end to World War II.”

Former Sherborne pupil Mr Turing was arrested after the war for homosexuality – which remained a criminal offence up until the 1960s.

Maxime said: “He was given the choice of prison or female hormone pills, which was the equivalent to male chemical castration.

“He chose the latter, which sadly led to his suspected suicide that involved him eating an apple laced with cyanide. He died aged 41.”

Mr Turing has fascinated Maxime every since she heard about him and the more she found out, the more she wanted to know.

She’s visited Bletchley Park and done what research she can.

She added: “There are only a few black and white photos of him so it was a great challenge to find things out about his character.

“I think he was quite a shy and complicated man as he used to walk almost sideways without eye contact at Bletchley on his way to the café to get a cup of tea.

“He would wear a gas mask on his bike in the summer to avoid hay fever and his dress was slightly untidy as you would expect of someone engrossed in his work.”

As her tribute to the man treated so poorly, Maxime’s homage includes the image of an apple, a German U-boat submarine being bombed by a British aircraft and an Enigma coding machine in the sea.

She added: “My painting is about making amends to such a great man.”