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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.

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