Cambridge English professor Sarah Dillon has transcribed and studied a little-known, unpublished short story by Alan Turing titled Pryce's Buoy, probably written in late 1952 or early 1953, the year after his Manchester arrest for gross indecency. The six-page incomplete manuscript, held in the King’s College, Cambridge, archives, centers on Alec Pryce, a scientist who resembles Turing, and Ron Miller, a working-class sex worker, and alternates between their perspectives. Dillon describes the tale as racy and autofictional, quoting lines such as Ron hoping to get “five bob” for ten minutes under the arches and a passage about differences in how the pair view sex and manners. Dillon says the story challenges the popular image of Turing as an isolated, humourless genius and argues he was playful, funny, cheeky, literary, and comfortable with his sexuality. The article notes Turing’s wartime role at Bletchley Park and his postwar work at Manchester, and recalls his 1952 prosecution, subsequent chemical castration, and 1954 death ruled a suicide, context that has shaped public memory. Dillon hopes the transcription will help reset the narrative around Turing by foregrounding his literary interests and a more social, sexually candid side of his life.
