Bletchley Park

October 2016 The Party that Saved Bletchley Park takes you back 25 years, to the first Veterans’ reunion. On 19 October 1991 Bletchley Park was about to be bulldozed for housing. A group of local historians organised the first - and, they thought, last - reunion of Veterans of the Government Code and Cypher School in the very buildings where they did their war work. They believed it would be a chance for the Veterans to have one last look around the site before it was consigned to history, and bid it a fond farewell. That day, though, the Veterans lent their support to a burgeoning desire among those local historians to stop Bletchley Park being torn down, and the campaign to save it for the nation was born. Volunteers recorded 14 hours of audio that day, capturing conversations and informal interviews with the Veterans on cassette tapes. We’ve recently discovered that these audio cassettes had been digitised and were not, as feared, lost to history. The campaign to save Bletchley Park from

September 2016 Action This Day! In our historic anniversary-based series, It Happened Here, we look at a paper-based act of daring which changed the course of history. Seventy five years ago Winston Churchill visited Bletchley Park, amid the utmost secrecy. He understood how important the intelligence being produced was, and valued it highly. He gave a morale-boosting speech to the Codebreakers, and we hear from Sir Arthur Bonsall, who stumbled across the PM on his way to lunch. Once the euphoria of the VIP visit had worn off, a group of young men who were feeling the weight of the task on their shoulders cooked up a plan to try to channel Churchill’s enthusiasm for Bletchley Park, to help them overcome administrative and fiscal issues they were facing on the front line of codebreaking. A letter signed by Alan Turing, Gordon Welchman, Hugh Alexander and Stuart Milner-Barry, politely outlined the need for more staff and resources. One passage read: “The trouble to our mind is that as we are a very sma

August 2016 Hear from a German Enigma operator for the first time in the August 2016 episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, Enigma from the other side. Sharing her unique story as part of Bletchley Park’s Oral History Project, Irmgard Enge, later Copley, tells how she was part of a secret operation to make sure the Allies did not find out how badly German aeroplanes and munitions factories were being damaged by bombs. She also recalls friendly - and less friendly - French people living near the air base where she was posted. Once the war had ended, Irmgard reluctantly agreed to go to a dance with her friend. She hadn’t wanted to go because there would be British soldiers there and she didn’t want to dance with the enemy. But her friend persuaded her and there she met her husband, an English soldier. Also in this month’s episode, we meet a man who grew up just beyond the boundary fence of Bletchley Park during World War Two. He joined a long queue in the rain to have treasures valued for the BB

July 2016 Dive into stories of stolen intelligence treasures which helped turn the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic in the July 2016 episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, Pinches and Breaks. As part of the historic anniversary-based series, It Happened Here, we hear from Arnold Hargreaves, a seaman aboard HMS Bulldog, who boarded the captured German submarine, U110, and still has the spoils today. An Enigma machine, codebooks and other vital documents were among the haul taken from the U-boat before it sunk. Bletchley Park’s Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon delves into the story of HMS Bulldog and other key pinches, which helped the Codebreakers at Bletchley Park glean vital naval intelligence. Genius alone was not enough. Pinches - in other words, stealing stuff from the enemy - were vital in breaking naval codes. Also in this month’s episode, Bletchley Park celebrated Armed Forces Weekend in style this year, with a themed weekend and a very special giveaway. Two thousand free tickets w

June 2016 No Sleep on VE Day, a brand new episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, is out now. Cynthia Humble was an intercept operator in the ATS from 1944 and was stationed at Forest Moor in the Yorkshire countryside. There she listened intently to enciphered Morse signals which were whisked off to a place she and her colleagues knew only as Station X. Her memories of the intense work, the somewhat rationed but sparkling social life and how she and her watch did not sleep a wink on VE Day, despite it falling between gruelling night shifts, are all in this month’s episode. Bletchley Park’s Oral History project has been running for five years, gathering more than three hundred rich and detailed interviews so far, with Veterans of the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park and its outstations all over the world. This rich archive is ever growing as the project continues apace. Born into an army family, Cynthia was keen to do her bit for the war effort, so she joined up at the gran

May 2016 This month in the Bletchley Park Podcast’s It Happened Here series, we tell the story of The Bismarck. The iconic German battleship was sunk by the Royal Navy 75 years ago. While this clearly did not happen at Bletchley Park, but in the Atlantic Ocean, codebreaking and some of the pioneering techniques developed as part of it played a crucial role in locating the flagship of the German fleet. Bletchley Park’s Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon, explains how work going on in wooden huts in the Buckinghamshire countryside contributed to the ship’s destruction, which was vital for the Allies, both strategically and symbolically. Jane Fawcett worked in Hut 6 from 1940. She recalls “It may be the most important thing that any of us have ever done in our lives. We didn’t realise it at the time, but we do now.” Hear about the special Bletchley Park beer being launched at the Fathers’ Day BBQ next month, and there’s news of how the ever-popular 1940s Boutique is expanding. Also in this

April 2016 This episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, Punch Cards, Porridge and a Pittance, celebrates five years since Bletchley Park’s Oral History project began in earnest. This rich archive has grown to more than three hundred interviews and this month we begin to celebrate its fifth anniversary, by sharing the very first interview that was carried out under its auspices. Doris Marshall, nee Phillips, lived just outside the boundaries of Bletchley Park and her family welcomed a number of billetees who worked for the Government Code and Cypher School. They suggested to her when she was coming of age that she too might work at this highly interesting, top secret place. Throughout this year, the Bletchley Park Podcast will bring memories from more of these fascinating oral history interviews out of storage for the world to hear, watch and read. We still want to hear from anyone who worked as part of the Bletchley Park operation and has not yet been interviewed. If you know of someone, email

March 2016 In November 2015, the GCHQ Departmental Historian made a rare public appearance as part of the Bletchley Park Presents lecture series. Tony gave a talk titled International Partnerships - Bletchley's Foreign Relations. In this second part of his talk he picks up the story with the fundamental work on Enigma carried out by Polish Codebreakers in the years running up to the start of World War Two and the start of the UK US relationship. The simultaneous management of different levels of relationship with different countries added an often unsuspected level of complexity, and the need gradually to decouple from some relationships as the war in Europe came to an end, needed careful management. This talk added rich detail to the Bletchley Park story. Bletchley Park’s Polish Memorial Image: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #History, #WW2

March 2016 Dr David A Hatch, NSA Historian, explains the huge historic significance of the letter sent by General Dwight D Eisenhower, the five-star general in the United States Army during World War Two who served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, to the Chief of MI6, Stuart Menzies, at the end of the war, thanking him for the intelligence produced by Bletchley Park. In it, Eisenhower says “The intelligence … has saved thousands of British and American lives.” The letter is now on public display for the first time, at Bletchley Park. Visit Bletchley Park. It happened here. Open daily. Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2, #History

March 2016 In this month’s brand new episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, Bombe Girls, meet some of the trailblazing women who were assigned to Special Duties X or posted to HMS Pembroke 5 when they joined the Wrens (Women’s Royal Naval Service or WRNS). These women found themselves at Bletchley Park - or, in many cases - at one of its huge, industrial outstations on the fringes of London - operating state of the art machines created to speed up the process of finding the daily Enigma settings on many different networks. They’d never heard of Enigma and didn’t know how their work fit into the wider intelligence operation, but they understood how important it was - and how essential it was that they kept it secret. Hear from the inspirational Helen Legh, a BBC radio presenter who’s been undergoing treatment for brain tumours. She took time out to indulge in some vintage pampering at the ever-glamorous 1940s Boutique. A cracking Easter approaches at Bletchley Park and this month’s episode te

March 2016 In November 2015, the GCHQ Departmental Historian made a rare public appearance as part of the Bletchley Park Presents lecture series. Tony gave a talk titled International Partnerships - Bletchley's Foreign Relations. In this first part of his talk he examined how foreign partnerships became an integral part of British signals intelligence shortly before World War Two. Although parts of the story are told, the meeting with the Poles in Warsaw in July 1939, and the arrival of the Americans in February 1941, for example, the number of different relationships is greater than many people realise. The simultaneous management of different levels of relationship with different countries added an often unsuspected level of complexity, and the need gradually to decouple from some relationships as the war in Europe came to an end, needed careful management. This talk added rich detail to the Bletchley Park story. Image: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #His

February 2016 75 years ago, a tentative meeting was held late at night, aided by sherry, in the office of Alastair Denniston, then Head of the Government Code and Cypher School. It was to prove an important turning point in the history of both the UK and the US. That night, as intelligence secrets were shared, the Special Relationship was founded. That alliance continues to be crucial to both nations today. To celebrate this anniversary, the Directors of GCHQ and the NSA visited Bletchley Park together and spoke about how important the relationship remains today. This episode takes a peek behind the curtain of secrecy that surrounded that visit, and shares today’s intelligence chiefs’ admiration of what was achieved here. And we hear from Veteran Dulcie Klusman, who had her own Special Relationship. While serving as a civilian at Bletchley Park, she met her American beau Bill, who became her husband and the reason she moved from the UK to the US. Before that, though, her letters arranging to

January 2016 Throughout 2016, the Bletchley Park Podcast will tell stories of the Codebreakers’ successes and agonies - all of which they kept completely secret. This month, it’s not German and it’s not Enigma. With help from Bletchley Park’s Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon, we look into the high level Italian ciphers being broken by Bletchley Park, which impacted significantly on the war in North Africa. There was a continuing dance of difficulty between the codebreaking operation in Cairo and HQ at Bletchley Park. Listen now to delve into this little known story. We meet the nephew of a man who died capturing Enigma codebooks from a sinking U-Boat, a seizure which made a huge difference to the Battle of the Atlantic, but his family were told he’d perished in an unsuccessful mission. Now, the dramatic story of The Petard Pinch is beautifully told in a mini exhibition in naval codebreaking Hut 8. We take you behind the scenes at the exclusive preview. Hear from vintage stylist Sarah Dunn

December 2015 Veterans’ families encouraged to join community and buy a brick Pride burns bright in relatives of the men and women whose secret work at Bletchley Park and its outstations helped shorten World War Two. The Bletchley Park Trust is in touch with more than 1,500 Veterans of the clandestine codebreaking organisation, the Government Code and Cypher School. Many more are no longer with us. Now, for the first time, the Trust is reaching out to its Veterans’ families to join a global community, celebrating their connection to this remarkable piece of history. “I find it spine-tingling to walk into the Mansion knowing I’m walking where my father and my grandfather walked and never could tell anyone.” This was Anthony De Grey’s reaction to entering the Mansion when he visited Bletchley Park, the place where not only his father, John De Grey, and grandfather, Nigel De Grey, worked but also his aunt, Barbara De Grey, and her future husband, Patrick Vans. Anthony was touched to discover

December 2015 A story full of heroism and tragedy is now told at Bletchley Park in a new mini exhibition. The Petard Pinch was the seizure of vital codebooks from a sinking U-Boat in which two young men drowned. But they didn’t die in vain - the intelligence treasures they captured were extremely valuable. They allowed the Codebreakers at Bletchley Park to break back into the naval Enigma network Shark, after a devastating ten month blackout. Image: Petard Crew 1942 ©The Petard Association #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2, #History, #HMSPetard,

December 2015 Bletchley Park has had its best ever year. In the whole of 2014, 196,000 people came to discover the secret world of World War Two codebreaking and this year, with nearly a month still to go, the figure stands at more than 280,000 thousand. New exhibitions which opened this year included The Road to Bletchley Park, about codebreaking during World War One, and the little-known story of one of World War Two’s forgotten heroes, Gordon Welchman. Among the treasures which went on show for the first time were secret notes stuffed into the roof cracks, found during the restoration of Hut 6, and the story of the seamen who drowned stealing vital codebooks from a sinking U-Boat which will open on 14th December. Join host Katherine and producer Mark as they look back over this memorable year, in the company of many of our Veterans and their proud families. Visit the Bletchley Park Roll of Honour to find your Codebreaker relative and email friends@bletchleypark.org.uk to find out more about

December 2015 Professor Jack Copeland, Director of the Turing Archive for the History of Computing, celebrated another forgotten hero of Bletchley Park, Max Newman, as part of the Bletchley Park Presents lecture series. His August talk ‘How Computers Were Used Against Hitler’, was a huge success. Professor Copeland explored the story of little-recognised Codebreaker Max Newman, whose work was fundamental to the construction of the first electronic computer, Colossus. The section he founded and led at Bletchley Park was named after him; the Newmanry worked on the strategic-level Lorenz cipher, used by Hitler and the high command. Newman went on to establish the Royal Society Computing Machine Laboratory. In his talk, Professor Copeland looked back at his achievements and then sat down for a chat with Podcast Producer, Mark Cotton. Picture: ©Bletchley Park Trust #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Lorenz, #Enigma, #Colossus, #WW2, #History,

November 2015 Time is running out to see That is All You Need to Know, an original play which shines a light on the Home of the Codebreakers. Created by theatre company, Idle Motion, the work pulls together three different strands of Bletchley Park’s history; Alan Turing and his team breaking the Enigma code during World War Two, Gordon Welchman writing his ground-breaking book, The Hut Six Story, in the 1970s and the campaign to save the site for posterity in the 1990s. That is All You Need to Know completes its final run next month, with shows each night from Tuesday 15 December to Saturday 19 December at the New Diorama Theatre in London. Grace Chapman and Ellie Simpson, two of Idle Motion’s Co-directors, explained the inspiration behind the play. They said, “A couple of years ago now we learnt about Alan Turing and felt very inspired to put his life on stage. However, since we started researching his life we very quickly realised that all that he achieved at Bletchley Park was not just abo

November 2015 In the throes of war, difficult decisions have to be made. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was fully aware that Bletchley Park was breaking German codes, and even received regular digests of the intelligence gleaned, known as Hut 3 Headlines. However, a myth was born in the mid-1970s that remains in circulation even now. The theory was that messages decoded by Bletchley Park warned Churchill that the Luftwaffe was heading for Coventry on 14 November 1940, and that he allowed the bombing go ahead in order to protect his secret source of vital information. It has since been debunked, however, and in this month’s episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, you can find out how. Here is an extract of this month’s episode, The Coventry Myth. Image: Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspecting members of Coventry's Warden Service in Broadgate during his visit to Coventry in September 1941. ©Mirrorpix #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #Churchill

November 2015 Hindsight can be cruel. The conspiracy theory that Churchill allowed Coventry to be bombed beyond recognition, killing hundreds of civilians, in order to protect the Ultra secret - that Bletchley Park was breaking German codes - is a myth. In this episode we bring you memories of the devastating air raid on Coventry, which took place 75 years ago, on 14 November 1940. Hear from Sir Arthur Bonsall, who worked in the German Air Section, debunking the myth. And Bletchley Park’s Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon, explains how the theory came about and has since been disproved. Also this month, the Bletchley Park Trust is reaching out to Veterans’ families, to create a worldwide community of people with a special link to this unique piece of British history. Dilly Knox was instrumental in codebreaking in both world wars. He was working to break into Enigma before World War Two even broke out, but died in 1943, so never knew how the war ended and never shared what he’d done with his fami