A CODE breaker and pioneer of computer science, a mathematician, cryptographer and genius.

His work was key to breaking the wartime Enigma codes and now, decades after his death in 1954, a blue plaque has been unveiled for Alan Turing in Dorset, at the very school where his own love for science was discovered.

In 1926, Alan Turing arrived in Southampton docks aged 13 to start an education at Sherborne School in Dorset.

He arrived in the middle of the general strike from St Malo when the trains were cancelled, and so infamously and resourcefully bought a map and cycled 63 miles from the docks to Dorset by himself.

It was a fitting start, and a sign as to just how intuitive and determined Turing would go on to be in his later life.

His mother had struggled to find a school suitable for his education and focus, but when a change in leadership at Sherborne School led to a shift in focus towards science, she knew her son could be happy there.

Nearly 100 years later and Alan Turing's nephew, Sir Dermot Turing, is drawing the string to pull back the curtain to unveil a blue plaque at Sherborne School, and more about Turing's life.

Sir Dermot followed in the footsteps of his uncle to study at the prestigious boys' school.

He's now launched a biography, PROF: Alan Turing Decoded, an insightful account into his uncle's life.

He celebrates the incredible life of his uncle that was cut all too short, and said he wants to encourage and enthuse any future 'Alan Turings'.

Today, he's surrounded by old Sherborne boys in Westcott House where Turing boarded.

They are all gathered in the house to listen to Dermot's discoveries, and view never before seen material about Turing, gathered by school archivist Rachel Hassall, whose name brings cheers at the plaque unveiling.

Both Rachel and Dermot touch on the film, The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and the 'scriptwriters' enthusiasm' that dramatised Turing's time at Sherborne.

Sir Dermot said: "I started writing the book in 2012. I found myself confronted with myths about Alan Turing and I didn't know if they were true or not.

"So I felt that actually the story needed to be looked at again. Was he really a solitary loner?

"When I did the work it's quite different what emerged.

"It's been a great experience."

If The Imitation Game ignited interest in Alan Turing, Dermot's new biography takes a fresh perspective on the stories about a man who is still difficult to decipher: the man known as Prof.

Dermot brings his own personal insights, drawn from family sources, interviews with Turing’s contemporaries, and other materials not available to previous researchers.

Turing is widely regarded as a war hero for his codebreaking work at Bletchley Park, and considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, as well as a pioneer of developmental biology.

But his conviction for gross indecency in 1952, followed two years later by his untimely death, brought a terrible end to a life packed with achievement.

That achievement all started at Sherborne School, and Rachel Hassall has helped to uncover some of the myths surrounding Turing's start in life.

During the summer of 1930, Turing set up the Foucault's pendulum experiment in the stairwell of Westcott House where he boarded.

The experiment proved that earth revolved around its axis by hanging a weighted string from the wall and leaving it to swing.

By noon, the change of direction of the swinging ball demonstrated that the earth had rotated underneath it while Turing was at the chapel.

His experiment caused a great commotion amongst other boys at the school and his teachers who by this point had noticed he was quite a character.

School archivist Rachel said: "I think the archive shows him as a real man with strengths and weaknesses."

Rachel said it is a misconception that he did not enjoy his time at the school. Why else would he have kept returning so long after?

She said: "In the film, they said he was bullied here, but he came regularly back for events and gave money to the school. He can't have hated it that much."

Holding up Turing's OBE medal, which Rachel said he kept in a tin with nuts and bolts, the school archivist has uncovered school reports, letters he wrote to his parents and other material which all put together provides a much more comprehensive look into Turing's time at Sherborne School than ever before.

She said: "We are extremely lucky to have the archive here.

"We're incredibly proud of the history. It shows he had a normal life and he was popular."

He was a man, though misunderstood by so many, who had an understanding about the world, science and the future, that no one else could compete with.

* PROF: Alan Turing Decoded by Sir Dermot Turing is out now.