Bletchley Park

November 2015

Sarah Harding’s mother remembers Bletchley Park as a happy place. Dorothy Harding, nee Thompson, worked as a Morse slip reader in the Communications Centre from 1943 to the end of the war.

Many years later, Sarah directed the hit ITV drama, The Bletchley Circle, about four fictional women who worked at the Government Code and Cypher School during World War Two and, some ten years later, regrouped in secret to solve mysteries including murder.

Now Sarah is joining a worldwide community of Veterans’ relatives, who are being offered the chance to buy a commemorative brick in the Codebreakers’ Wall and cement their connection to this piece of British history.

Visit the Bletchley Park Roll of Honour to find your Codebreaker relative and email [email protected] to find out more about how you can celebrate that connection.

Image: Sarah Harding on location at Bletchley Park during the filming of The Bletchley Circle. ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma,

October 2015

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. The Trust is inviting relatives of the Codebreakers to cement their family ties with the breath-taking achievements of the Bletchley Park operation during World War Two. Their names and the importance of what they did was once shrouded in secrecy, but can now be celebrated in perpetuity.

For the next six months Veterans, their families and members of the Friends of Bletchley Park have the exclusive opportunity to buy engraved commemorative bricks that will be used to build a Codebreakers’ Wall around naval codebreaking Hut 8. The opportunity to buy a brick in the Codebreakers’ Wall will then be made widely available from spring 2016.

Michael and Anthony de Grey have more family links than most to Bletchley Park, and indeed part of its World War One predecessor, Room 40. Their grandfather Nigel was a key figure in codebreaking in both world wars, and the family connections didn’t end there. In both these full interviews Michael and Anthony go into much more depth about their proud memories.

Picture: ©Bletchley Park Trust

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2, #History, #WW1

October 2015

In Forgotten Genius, the October 2015 episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, we take you to the opening of a brand new, fascinating exhibition about Gordon Welchman, Bletchley Park’s Architect of Ultra Intelligence. Hear from Welchman’s granddaughter, Jennifer, who flew in specially to be at the launch and from his Hut 6 colleague, Jimmy Thirsk, who at the age of 101 is one of the last few of his kind left.

Also featured is the grandson of a man who was involved in Codebreaking in both world wars, Nigel De Grey. His grandson Anthony is clearly proud of his roots - and his grandfather was not the only member of his family who worked at Bletchley Park.

And on 18 October the BBC’s Security Correspondent, Gordon Corera will give a talk as part of the Bletchley Park Presents lecture series. Gordon will speak about his new book which traces the intertwined history of computing and espionage; Intercept - The Secret History of Computers and Spies. He tells the Bletchley Park Podcast how a book about technology turned out to be a book about people.

You can also hear about the Family Maths Workshops designed for 5 to 12 year-olds - and their grown-ups - happening at Bletchley Park every Saturday throughout October and November.

Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma,

October 2015

You’ve seen the Oscar winning film, now visit the set and get a rare insight into how the story of genius Codebreaker Alan Turing was brought to life. Benedict Cumberbatch said Filming at Bletchley Park was amazing. It was a very important part of the film.

In the Ballroom and Billiard Rooms of the Mansion, this atmospheric exhibition is all about the making of The Imitation Game, in the very room where the bar scenes were filmed.

Among the many behind the scenes gems are secret documents and intercepts Benedict Cumberbatch stuffs into his socks and trousers to sneak them off site and a copy of the famous crossword puzzle published in The Telegraph.

But it’s not here for much longer - The Imitation Game, The Exhibition is only open until 1st November. See it before it’s too late.

Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #ImitationGame, #TIG

September 2015

On 29 July Bletchley Park’s Royal Patron, HRH The Duke of Kent, officially opened the major new exhibition, The Road to Bletchley Park, telling the story of codebreaking during World War One. Many of those World War One Codebreakers went on to work at Bletchley Park during World War Two. Among them was Alastair Denniston the first operational head of the Government Code and Cypher School.

The August episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast featured an edited version of an interview with two of Commander Denniston’s granddaughters, Candy Connolly and Judith Finch. In this Extra we bring you the full interview as they talk with pride about the man they call AGD. Before that we hear from author and historian on Bletchley Park, Dr Joel Greenberg, for an overview of the Commander’s secret work.

This episode was released on 30 September to mark International Podcast Day. Extra episodes follow up an earlier story with more content, allowing listeners to delve deeper into the subject. The Bletchley Park Podcast is released on 10th of each month, featuring stories told by Veteran Codebreakers themselves, world-renowned authors and historians, paid and volunteer staff and, occasionally, the odd Hollywood A-Lister. This exclusive content keeps up to date on all the events, exhibitions and lectures and of course the progress of the development of Bletchley Park.

Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com

#PodcastDay, #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #WW1

September 2015

Chatbots have yet to fool the judges of the Loebner Prize into believing they’re human at the Loebner Prize. The 25th annual Artificial Intelligence competition, which puts the Turing test into practice, has ended without any of the judges being duped.

The BBC’s Technology Correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, was one of the four judges. He says it was easy to tell which of the conversations were with humans and which were with bots. When he started talking about keeping slugs off his vegetable garden and his dog, called Cabbage, Rory says they were soon stumped.

After the judging, when Rose had been declared this year’s most human bot, he stopped for a chat with the Bletchley Park Podcast.

Picture: ©Katherine Lynch

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #ruskin147, #LoebnerPrize, #AI

September 2015

On 18 October the BBC’s Security Correspondent, Gordon Corera, will give a talk at Bletchley Park about his new book which traces the intertwined history of computing and espionage, Intercept – The Secret History of Computers and Spies.

The computer was born to spy. Under the intense pressure of the Second World War and in the confines of Bletchley Park, the work of men like Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers led to the birth of the computing age. It was a breakthrough that helped win the war and which cemented the importance of signals intelligence and also a close alliance between the US and UK. In the following decades, computers transformed espionage from Cold War spy hunting and providing advance warning of nuclear war through to today’s data driven pursuit of terrorists and industrial scale cyber-espionage against corporations. Gordon Corera reveals for the first time how – beginning at Bletchley - the history of computers has been shaped by spying and in turn how spying has been changed by computers. He will look at the legacy of Bletchley and how it matters for us all.

He told the Bletchley Park Podcast how a book about technology turned out to be a book about people.

Tickets are available from the Bletchley Park online shop https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/shop/p.rhtm/130872/908465-BletchleyParkPresents_GordonCoreraSunday18_October.html

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #History