Why Keira Knightley Was All Wrong For The Imitation Game

Keira Knightley was too pretty for her role in ‘The Imitation Game’, according to a veteran of Bletchley Park who knew the real-life woman she played.

Knightley was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of codebreaker Joan Clarke in the hit period movie.

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But Lady Jean Fforde, who was also at Bletchley with both Clarke and Alan Turing, reckons that it wasn’t a case of art imitating life.

“She was nothing like Keira,” Lady Jean said of Clarke.

“An absolute back end of a bus. Blessed woman, though.”

The anecdote was told to Tessa Dunlop for her book 'The Bletchley Girls: War, Secrecy, Love and Loss’. Amusingly, Fforde had initially rejected her request for an interview, saying she 'hated Bletchley'.

Dunlop revealed the remark while speaking at the Hay Festival yesterday.

Clarke, a cryptanalyst and numismatist, was feted for her work at Bletchley, and was awarded the MBE in 1947.

As depicted in the movie, Clarke became friends with Turing – played by Benedict Cumberbatch – and was engaged to him before he admitted his homosexuality.

She died in September 1996 aged 79 at her home in Headington, near Oxford.

Image credits: Studio Canal/Yahoo