Bletchley Park

June 2020  This week we return for the second and final time to the 2018 launch of Dermot Turing’s book, X, Y and Z: The Real Story of How Enigma Was Broken. It’s a story of international cooperation, spanning many years and for the first time tells of how the French, British and Polish secret services came together to unravel the secrets of the Enigma machine. At the launch Dermot was joined by Nathalie Genet-Rouffiac, the Curator of Heritage for the French Ministry of the Armed Forces and GCHQ Historian Tony Comer. To finish this episode we have highlights from the Q&A Session that all three joined, which ended the day. But first we return to Dermot’s talk. In the last episode we left the Polish Codebreakers, enjoying life, living in a Chateau, working for the French. He now completes the story of what happened to them following the Allied landings in North Africa in late 1942 as the Germans rushed to occupy Vichy France. Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2020 * Producers Note *While we are still in these exceptional times, we will continue to produce these Intelligence Insight episodes, switching to one every two weeks from now. We are also looking forward to bringing you new episodes in our It Happened Here series as soon as we are able to. In the meantime, please follow Bletchley Park on social media and visit the website for the latest information on plans to safely reopen, thank you. #BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #Enigma, @PolishEmbassyUK

June 2020  The breaking of the German Enigma machine wasn’t just down to the Codebreakers at Bletchley Park and it didn’t start with the outbreak of World War Two. It’s a story of international cooperation, spanning many years and who better to tell it than the nephew of Alan Turing.  In this, the first of two episodes, we return to 2018 when Bletchley Park hosted representatives of the Polish Embassy in London and families of Polish codebreakers, for the launch of Dermot Turing’s book, X, Y and Z: The Real Story of How Enigma Was Broken. Based on his own original research and newly released documents, both in the book and this exclusively recorded talk, Dermot tells the story of how the French, British and Polish secret services came together to unravel the secrets of the Enigma machine.  He is introduced by His Excellency the Ambassador of Republic of Poland, Dr Arkady Rzegocki. Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2020 #BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #Enigma, @PolishEmbassyUK

June 2020  This week we return for the last time to the Bill Tutte symposium that was held at Bletchley Park in 2017, the centenary of his birth.  In this episode we bring you the closing address of the day given by our then Chairman, Sir John Scarlett. But before that we have the final speaker of the day, the BBC’s Security Correspondent, Gordon Corera, here for the first time in full. The work that Bill did at Bletchley Park would help lead to the creation of the cutting edge technology of the Colossus Computer. Therefore it was fitting that in his talk Gordon looked for the connecting threads between then and now, between maths and machines, computers and people.  Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2020 #BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #Enigma, #Tunny

May 2020  We return in this episode to the Bill Tutte symposium that was held at Bletchley Park in 2017, on the centenary of his birth. Again we bring you one of the many talks given that day, but for the first time in full. Bill Tutte’s breaking of the Lorenz machine led to the Codebreakers at Bletchley Park being able to read the messages being sent between Hitler, the German High Command and the Generals in the field. In his talk our Research Historian Dr David Kenyon, looked at why this was so important to the Allied planners. Focusing specifically on how intelligence derived from Tunny decrypts played a role in D-Day, he asked the question “How Fishy was Ultra?” To find out even more about the work of The Western Front Committee and the planning for D-Day, why not go back and listen to Episode 88 The Tide of Victory, where we looked at this in even greater detail. Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2020 #BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #Enigma, #Tunny

May 2020  In this episode we stay with the attack on the Lorenz code that Bill Tutte played such an important part in, with a first-hand account. Captain Jerry Roberts worked with Bill Tutte in The Testery cracking, what they called Tunny, the German High Commands code, used by Hitler & his top Generals. Jerry tells us what it was like to work in The Testery, why breaking Tunny was so important to the ultimate Allied victory and of his 3 Heroes of Bletchley Park. Jerry’s was the last of a day of talks held in 2012 as part of the celebrations of Alan Turing’s Centenary. The introduction is by Lord Charles Brocket who acted as master of ceremonies for the day.  In memoriam, Captain Jerry Roberts MBE (1920-2014) Image: ©mcfontaine #BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #Enigma, #Lorenz, #Veteran

May 2020  In this episode we again return to the Bill Tutte symposium that was held at Bletchley Park in 2017, on the centenary of his birth.  As a member of the Bill Tutte Memorial Fund Claire Butterfield had by 2017 spent 4 years campaigning for more recognition for the little-known mathematical genius. For the first time we can bring you Claire’s entire talk that opened the day and in it she explores Bill’s entire life and work.   Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2020 #BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #Enigma, #Tunny

May 2020
After more than 5 and a half years of fighting, 75 Years ago today the war in Europe officially finally came to an end. 
To commemorate the day we present this special It Happened Here episode. Using archive recordings and interviews with our Veterans from both our official Oral History Project and nearly 8 years of podcasts, we hope to take you back to the heady days of early May 1945.
20 of our Veterans will share their memories, both happy and sometimes poignant, of what VE Day and beyond meant to them. Featured in order of appearance are:
Betty Flavell
Peggy Huntingdon
Ron Unwin
Joyce Spurr
Tim Edwards
Pamela Billinton
Lady Marion Body
Elizabeth Ruth Hughes
Mary Sherrard
Joyce Bogoni
Betty Lawrie
Eileen Younghusband
Helene Aldwinckle
Sheila Willson
Walter 'Joe' Wright
Margaret Thomas
Jane Fawcett
Elizabeth Marshall
Stanley Clegg
Marigold Freeman-Attwood
We would like to take this opportunity to thank not just the Veterans of Bletchley Park and its Outstations, but all Veterans, for their service. 
Very special thanks go to Mr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Image: WAAFs in Trafalgar Square. With grateful thanks to Mrs Margaret Rowland.
#BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #VEDay75

May 2020
Since first marching into Poland on the 1st September 1939, the German army had conquered most of Europe. But the tide had turned and, as April 1945 began, they were caught between the Western Allies and the vast Red Army of the Soviet Union. The inevitable end was finally in sight, but not before multiple surrenders were signed.
For the Codebreakers of Bletchley Park, after more than 5 and a half years, their work wasn’t over. Not only did they have to keep supplying vital intelligence, but they also looked towards an uncertain future and the threat of a new enemy. It must have been satisfying for the night shift in Hut 6 on the 7th May 1945 as they secretly became some of the first people to learn that the war in Europe was at an end.
With the help of archival recordings and Ultra decrypts from the time, Bletchley Park’s Research Officer, Dr Thomas Cheetham, guides us through the dramatic last days of the Nazi regime. 
Very special thanks go to Mr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
In memoriam, Eileen Younghusband BEM  (1921-2016) WAAF Section Officer
Image: PD-USGov-Military-Army
* Producers Note *
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation & the podcast team working from home, we have had to record this episode remotely.  This means that the audio is not to the high quality we would normally wish it to be. But very much in the make do and mend spirit of WW2 we have improved it the best we can and hope our listeners will understand and still enjoy the episode.
#BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #VEDay75

April 2020  Many of Bletchley Park’s senior early war staff had cut their codebreaking teeth during World War One. In 2015 we opened an exhibition called The Road to Bletchley Park which looked at the work of Room 40 and MI1B. So following on from our previous Intelligence Insight we will be sharing again some interviews with the families of these famous Codebreakers of both conflicts. Dillwyn ‘Dilly’ Knox started World War Two as GC&CS’s Chief Codebreaker but in World War One had been one of the team that helped to break the famous Zimmerman Telegram. So first we return to 2015 when 14 members of his family paid us a visit and we spoke to his 4 grandchildren, Charlotte, Tim, Peter and the modern incarnation of Dilly. The person credited with most of the work on the Zimmerman Telegram was Nigel de Grey. Again in 2015 we spoke to Michael de Grey about his grandfather’s work and he shared some amazing letters that Nigel sent him as a child. Then Michael’s brother, Anthony de Grey spoke about their father John de Grey who joined their grandfather to work at Bletchley Park during World War Two. We then move forward to 2016 and join Michael and Anthony at the opening of the second part of The Road to Bletchley Park. Our final selection this week is from 2017 when we celebrated the 100th anniversary of The Zimmerman Telegram. For this event Michael and Anthony were joined by Edward Hohler, whose grandfather Thomas was ‘Our man in Mexico’ at the time. Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2020 #BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #Enigma, #WW1 

April 2020  Over the years we have been very fortunate to welcome the families of some of our more famous Codebreakers for a visit to Bletchley Park. The families always have such an immense pride in their ancestors and the work they did for GC&CS and it’s always an honour for the podcast to sit down with them for our listeners. Following on from our last podcast, Invasion Norway, where we looked at the vital work Harry Hinsley carried out in the Naval Section, we go back to 2017 when two of his children, Clarissa & Hugo paid a visit with 3 generations of the family. They not only speak about their famous father but also their mother Hillary who also worked at Bletchley Park. We will then hear from Gordon Welchman’s grandson Geoffrey on his first visit to Bletchley Park and how emotional it was for him.  Finally we sit down with Welchman’s biographer Dr Joel Greenberg, his granddaughter Jenny and two Veterans Jimmy Thirsk and Betty Webb as they discuss his wartime work and his book The Hut 6 Story.  Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2020 #BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #Enigma, #GCHQ