Bletchley Park

December 2016 Fifty years after World War Two, a farewell party was held for Veterans of the Government Code and Cypher School, at the ramshackle site where they had carried out vital intelligence work. It was about to be bulldozed for housing, but the party bolstered a burgeoning desire to save and preserve it for future generations. Then, more so than now, Codebreakers from all levels of the organisation were able to attend and enjoy the reunion. As a result, the 14 hours of audio recorded by volunteers roaming with cassette recorders that day includes some notable names, both in person and through the memories of their colleagues. They modestly recall their war work, reflecting on the significance of what they achieved. It’s worth remembering they didn’t breathe a word about what they’d done to their friends, families or loved ones - for at least 30 years. So in this, the last of three special episodes showcasing the best audio from that day and celebrating its incredible legacy, we meet some people you might have heard of. Also in this month’s episode, it’s beginning to look a lot like a 1940s Christmas at Bletchley Park, with vintage decorations throughout, festive afternoon teas and an extremely special visitor, all the way from Lapland. Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2016 #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History

November 2016Fun, food and friendships at 1940s Bletchley Park were among the most popular topics of conversation at the party that saved the site. Travel back 25 years for another dip into the memories shared by the Veterans that day in 1991, about everything but the work - from digs to dances.It was quite a party, carefully timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the letter sent to Churchill, asking for more resources. Sent in 1941, the letter opened the door for Bletchley Park to expand at a rapid pace, to meet the increasing demand. Churchill’s response to that letter, ‘Action This Day: Give them all they need and report to me that this has been done’, was a real turning point. The party was sneakily planned, and those who organised it ended up feeling they’d got away with something.Before we go back in time to that momentous day in October 1991, we spend more time with some of the hardy annuals who turned out to this year’s Veterans’ Reunion. It’s always a great day, and once they start sharing their memories, it’s amazing how much comes flooding back.Image: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History

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 being bulldozed was not the only thing that party started. It was also the first of what has become the highlight of the year at Bletchley Park - the annual Veterans’ Reunion. This year’s was another great day, with Veterans bringing their families to remember and celebrate their contribution. This year, for the first time, many of them were searching for their names cemented firmly into Bletchley Park’s future as well as its past, in the Codebreakers’ Wall. Next month, we’ll bring you more from the party that saved Bletchley Park. We’ll share some of the insights into what life was like - apart from the all-important work these people were doing - looking both inside and out the gates of Bletchley Park. Many thanks to Helen Legh & Tilda for capturing interviews at this year’s reunion. Thanks also go to Kerry Howard for roving reporting at this year's reunion, and you can hear some of the fascinating conversations she captured next month. Visit Bletchley Park. It happened here. Book now. Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History

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 small section with numerically trivial requirements it is very difficult to bring home to the authorities finally responsible either the importance of what is done here or the urgent necessity of dealing promptly with our requests.” Stuart Milner-Barry of Hut 6 was volunteered by his colleagues to deliver the letter to Downing Street. It was 40 years before he saw the Churchill’s memo: “Make sure they have all they want on extreme priority and report to me that this had been done.” The original memo lives in The National Archive and a copy is on display in the Visitor Centre at Bletchley Park. Then we fast forward 50 years to 1991 and the party that saved Bletchley Park. The very first reunion for Veterans started as a fond farewell to a semi derelict site that was about to be bulldozed, but turned into a call to action to save it. Fourteen hours of audio recordings made that day that were feared lost, were in fact safely stashed away in Bletchley Park’s Archive, and digitised only recently. From next month, we’ll bring you highlights. The episode also features an exclusive interview with Geoffrey Welchman, whose grandfather Gordon was Head of Hut 6 and reputedly the instigator of the letter to Churchill. Find out what happened when Geoffrey visited Bletchley Park for the first time, and discovered how well celebrated his grandfather is. Visit Bletchley Park. It happened here. Book now. Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #Churchill

August 2016Hear 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 BBC antiques show, Flog It. The show’s host, Paul Martin, reveals which items he tries to persuade people to keep, going somewhat against the programme’s underlying principle.Last but not least, change is afoot at the hugely successful 1940s Boutique. The day long workshop and tutorial is opening its doors to customers who want a spot of pampering, without the DIY. As well as workshops on how to create the iconic looks of the 1940s and 1950s, the experts themselves will be styling customers’ hair and make-up; all in the tranquil surroundings of the Victorian mansion which became the site of some of WW2’s most secret work.Thanks to The Three Belles for the music in this episode, you can find them at www.thethreebelles.comVisit Bletchley Park. It happened here. Book now.Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #Retro, #FlogIt

July 2016Dive 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 were given to military personnel and their families, bands played throughout the weekend and there were stalls and activities to entertain visitors of all ages. Hear from some of the families - military and civilian - enjoying the festivities.Visit Bletchley Park. It happened here. Book now.Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History

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 grand old age of seventeen and a half. She went on to make memories which have lasted a lifetime. We take you to the opening of the second phase of the ground-breaking exhibition about codebreaking during World War One, The Road to Bletchley Park, which has been extended to tell stories of the impact this pioneering work had on the war at sea, on land and in the air. It also touches on the tribulations of effectively sharing intelligence without revealing its source. Phase one of The Road to Bletchley Park explores some of the people involved in WW1 codebreaking who went on to be crucial to the successes of the Government Code and Cypher School during World War Two. Now the second phase, which extends the exhibition in the Visitor Centre at Bletchley Park, explores stories including the largest naval battle of WW1 and the secret telegram which brought the USA into the conflict. Podcast producer Mark Cotton took a sneaky first peek alongside the Friends of Bletchley Park, at their exclusive preview evening. Also, we hear why another night of The Imitation Game has been laid on at the Open Air Cinema in September. The Oscar-winning film starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the Codebreaker, mathematician and all-round genius Alan Turing will be shown on the lawn at the uniquely historic site where a lot of the action is set, and key scenes were filmed. Visit Bletchley Park. It happened here. Book now. Image: ©Cynthia Humble, nee Grossman #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #WW1, #AudioMo, #AudioMo2016

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 month’s episode, Dermot Turing opened up his family archive to give a rare insight into the man who’s become a figurehead for the breath-taking achievements of the Bletchley Park Codebreakers, his uncle, Alan Turing. Alan Turing died before Dermot was born but his legend looms large in the family and Dermot has written a book, debunking some of the myths that have grown up about this intriguing man, and giving a unique family perspective on his remarkable work and the tragic end to his life. We hear highlights of Dermot’s talk at Bletchley Park, sharing some of what’s in his book, Prof: Alan Turing Decoded. Visit Bletchley Park. It happened here. Book now. Image: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com In memory of Jane Fawcett, who passed away on 21 May 2016. #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #Turing, #Bismarck

April 2016This 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 [email protected] and mention the Oral History Project.This month we also bring you details of the exciting new open air cinema at Bletchley Park, which will show the Oscar-winning film, The Imitation Game as well as the World War Two classic, The Great Escape, over two nights in September.Last but not least, a heartfelt letter of thanks for the vital intelligence provided by Bletchley Park has been brought out of the shadows, 70 years after it was written. Eisenhower’s 1945 letter to Sir Stewart Menzies hung on the wall in the top secret Chief’s office at MI6 for several years, inspiring today’s Bletchley Park Trust Chairman Sir John Scarlett during his tenure. It is now on public display for the first time, at Bletchley Park, and we take you to the launch with Sir John, GCHQ Departmental Historian, Tony Comer, Bletchley Park’s Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon and the NSA’s Historian, David A Hatch.All this is waiting for your ears in this month’s episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, Punch Cards, Porridge and a Pittance.Visit Bletchley Park. It happened here. Book now.Image: Freeborn Machine Section Hollerith Punch Room, Block C ©Crown. Reproduced by kind permission, Director, GCHQ#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #Eisenhower

March 2016In 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 tells you what’s being laid on for children including trails, workshops and the chance to win a Suzuki Vitara. Visit Bletchley Park. It happened here. Open daily. Thanks to The Three Belles for the music featured in this episode. You can find them at http://www.thethreebelles.com/ Image: ©Crown. Reproduced by kind permission, Director, GCHQ #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #AlanTuring

March 2016In 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, #History, #WW1

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 meet him were intercepted and inspected - in case she was giving away vital secrets.Image: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #Churchill

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 of Sarah’s Doo-Wop Dos about why the 1940s Boutique has struck such a chord. This highly glamorous day out is back in 2016 and Sarah tells us what’s in store. Finally this month, Veteran Betty Webb MBE gives us a sneak peek inside her Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Betty has been honoured for remembering and promoting Bletchley Park. At 92, she still regularly gives talks to schoolchildren as well as helping with fundraising and media appearances. Image: Frederick Jacob, Director, CBME in Cairo ©Kenneth Jacob You can learn more about Frederick Jacob at the family website http://www.myjacobfamily.com/favershamjacobs/frederickarthurjacob.htm #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #Churchill

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 two photographs of his father in the guidebook. He said, “I find it difficult to hold back the tears at a time like that. Thank you for giving me the opportunity because I’m just delighted to contribute to this place, which is still far too secret.” Candy Connolly is the granddaughter of Commander Alastair Denniston, the first Operational Director of the Government Code and Cypher School. Denniston welcomed new recruits to Bletchley Park in his office in the Mansion, which has been returned to its World War Two appearance. Candy said, “I’m very proud and amazingly fortunate to be sitting in this office of his. When you see Bletchley Park become so strong in our modern history and in modern life, and bring us the technology that we use every day, that connection is amazing.” Michael De Grey is proud to be part of the Bletchley Park community. His grandfather, father, aunt and uncle all worked here during World War Two. Michael’s grandfather, Nigel De Grey, started out as a Codebreaker during World War One . He decoded the Zimmerman telegram, which was an important factor in drawing America into WW1. Michael said, “My grandfather is reputed to have said at a meeting in the office a few days later, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the toast is America because now we are going to win the war.’ My grandfather did something life saving for our country. What would have happened if they hadn’t decoded that telegram?” Sarah Harding’s mother, Dorothy Harding, recalls her time at Bletchley Park with fond memories. Sarah said, “Recently she was reminiscing about her time there and she fell into a reverie. An hour later she said to me, “I can see the hut clearly. It’s all in front of my eyes. I can’t leave Bletchley.” “Is it a happy place,” I asked. “Oh yes,” she said.” Her mother’s World War Two work as a wireless operator and Morse slip reader means that Sarah is keen to be a part of the 21st century Bletchley Park. Hear more from Candy, Michael, Anthony and Sarah in the Bletchley Park Podcast. If you are related to someone who worked at Bletchley Park or one of its outstations, please email [email protected] to join this unique community. Image: ©Crown. Reproduced by kind permission, Director, GCHQ #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History,

December 2015A 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 2015Bletchley 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 [email protected] to find out more about how you can celebrate that connection in our Codebreakers’ Wall.Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #BBC, #TheImitationGame,

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 2015Time 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 about Alan Turing’s genius. It was actually a collection of hundreds and hundreds of people’s hard work, and we felt very inspired to get the story on the stage.”The show uses audio clips of Veterans’ interviews, provided by the Bletchley Park Trust Oral History Project, as well as multimedia projections, traditional props and even puppetry, to highlight the interweaving histories.To buy tickets visit http://newdiorama.com/whats-on/that-is-all-you-need-to-knowImage: ©Idle Motion#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2, #History

November 2015In 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 2015Hindsight 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 family. They can now celebrate his achievements and did just that on a visit to Bletchley Park, during which they shared their pride with the Bletchley Park Podcast.And we hear from Professor Jack Copeland, Director of the Turing Archive for the History of Computing, celebrating another forgotten hero of Bletchley Park, Max Newman. In August, his talk ‘How Computers Were Used Against Hitler’, was a huge success. This episode features an extract of that talk as well as a rare interview with Jack.Image: Prime Minister Winston Churchill accompanied by the Mayor and Alderman JA Mosely, inspects a large scale Civil Defence parade in Broadgate, Coventry in September 1941. ©Mirrorpix#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #Churchill

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, #WW2Veteran, #History

October 2015The 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, #WW2Veteran, #History, #BBC

October 2015You’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 2015Chatbots 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

September 2015 Nearly ninety Veterans of the Government Code and Cypher School and its many outstations gathered at Bletchley Park on Sunday 6 September, to reminisce and meet old friends and new.After a summer of 70th anniversary commemorations, it was a chance for people who worked in secret at both Bletchley Park and its outstations to remember their contribution. They took the opportunity to bring their friends and families to soak up the atmosphere back in the very buildings where they did their vital war work. There were also plenty of chances to share memories with people who worked in different sections. The Veterans are now free from the obligations of the Official Secrets Act and can discuss the details of their work, in stark contrast to the strict rules to which they all adhered during the dark days of World War Two.Listen in as we speak to five Veterans making their first appearance on the Bletchley Park Podcast, some speaking publicly for the very first time. Japanese Naval Section Wren Margaret Thomas, Dennis Underwood of the 14th Army, Hollerith Operator & decoder Joan Joslin, Hanslope Park Engineer Bartram Robinson and finally Florence Cole, a WAAF Teleprinter Operator based at Chicksands from 1943 to 1944. She said "All these years, I 've never considered myself important enough to talk about it. I 've never felt I was very special but I can look back now and think maybe I did contribute a little bit. "Many thanks to roving reporters Sarah Langston and Kerry Howard.Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com Margaret Wilson was a WAAF Morse Slip Reader at Bletchley Park from 1944 to 1946. She attended the Veterans’ Reunion with her daughter Kay Tonks (left), granddaughter Amy Brennan (right) and great grandson, Caelan Brennan (on Margaret’s lap).#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #WW270

August 2015 Seventy years ago on the 15th August 1945, small group of young women were quietly at work in Hut 16 at Bletchley Park. They included twins Valerie and Mary Glassborow, who later married brothers and among whose grandchildren was a girl who became HRHThe Duchess of Cambridge. Marion Graham (later Body) was also in that room in Hut 16, which Hut 6 was renamed as the codebreaking factory that was Bletchley Park grew and developed throughout World War Two. She recalls a moment of great privilege when their lives, and indeed the whole world, changed. Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #VJDay70, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History

August 2015In this episode we take you to the royal launch of a major new exhibition, which looks at the roots of codebreaking as we know it. The Road to Bletchley Park was officially opened on July the 29th by Bletchley Park’s Royal Patron, HRH, The Duke of Kent. We have interviews with the designer, a sponsor, our friendly GCHQ Historian & family members of two of the WW1 codebreakers.This episode also features highlights of the last three years’ Veterans’ Reunions, as this year’s approaches. It’s always a highlight of the year for Veterans and their families, making new memories as they revisit their wartime workplace and learn more about the things they weren’t allowed to know at the time.Find out who’s still to come in the Bletchley Park Presents lecture series and what’s being laid on for children during the school holidays, at no extra cost.Also this month, we speak to Sinclair Mackay, who’s written numerous books about Bletchley Park, and has described researching and writing them as the best job of his life. In his most recent book, The Secret Life of Fighter Command, he tells the stories of the men and women in this unique and world famous organisation. Sinclair gave a talk on the subject as part of the Bletchley Park Presents lecture series, and the podcast caught up with him afterwards. Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #BoB, #RAF, #WW1

Today Bletchley Park’s Royal Patron, HRH The Duke of Kent, will officially open a major new exhibition telling the story of Codebreaking in World War One, The Road to Bletchley Park. The Duke will meet representatives of the exhibition’s sponsors, BAE Systems and Ultra Electronics, as well as visiting new displays and exhibitions updated since his last visit in 2009.Timed to coincide with the exhibition opening, the Bletchley Park Trust is delighted to republish a unique parody of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alice in ID25 poked fun at the wartime work of the Naval Intelligence Codebreaking section Room 40, which became known from 1917 as ID25.Originally written by the Codebreakers Frank Birch and Dilly Knox at the end of WW1, it was performed privately as a pantomime in London in December 1918. The parody described life in Room 40 and the people who worked there, and remained under wraps for many decades afterwards. Friends of Bletchley Park were first to see The Road to Bletchley Park exhibition, at an exclusive preview. The Bletchley Park Podcast was there to capture their first impressions of the fascinating, untold story which is brought to life by this exhibition.Image courtesy of Churchill Archives Centre, Papers of Alexander Guthrie Denniston, DENN 3/2 and 3/3. Copyright unknown.#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW1, #WW1centenary

July 2015This brand new episode celebrates five years of the Roll of Honour, which aims to record all those who worked at Bletchley Park and its outstations during World War Two. It now holds nearly 11 thousand names, as well as a rich archive of memories, anecdotes and photographs. Also this month, hear from Bletchley Park Veteran Betty Webb MBE, about how keeping news of her honour secret for seven weeks was harder than sticking to the Official Secrets Act for more than 30 years. Betty was named in the Birthday Honours list for remembering and promoting the work of Bletchley Park.Time is rapidly running out to see The Imitation Game, The Exhibition. It features costumes, the replica Bombe machine built for the Oscar-winning film about Alan Turing plus drawings, props and exclusive interviews with the actors and director talking about what it was like to shoot parts of the story where it really happened - in the rooms where filming took place. Hear the moving acceptance speech given by screenwriter Graham Moore when he took home the Oscar for best adapted screenplay. Plus, we take one last peek behind the scenes during filming at Bletchley Park as well, in a never-heard-before interview with the Oscar nominated Production Designer Maria Djurkovic and Location Manager David Broder.Meanwhile, the school holidays are fast approaching. Fear not, we have all the entertainment you need to keep the kids occupied. Details of BrightSparks@BletchleyPark are in this month’s episode.Picture: ©Crown. Reproduced by kind permission, Director, GCHQ Special thanks to everyone at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for allowing us to use Graham Moore’s acceptance speech, especially Lawreen Loeser for all the help.#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #TheImitationGame

June 2015This month’s episode provides a peek at a major new exhibition at Bletchley Park, about codebreaking during World War One. The roots of Bletchley Park’s codebreaking success in World War Two can be clearly traced back to WW1, when several of the key figures of the Government Code and Cypher School were already engaged in the business of snooping into the enemy’s communications. The Road to Bletchley Park traces the roots of this codebreaking powerhouse back one hundred years. The exhibition is now open and will be formally launched soon. Also in this episode, steep yourself in vintage style at the 1940s Boutique, as this most glamorous of days out makes a welcome return next month. We go back to the first Boutique day last year, meeting a mother and two daughters whose mother and grandmother had worked at Bletchley Park. They had a heartbreaking story to tell about the real cost of keeping the details of her work secret from her family.And we finish with a real treat all the way from Toronto, joining one woman’s quest to find out more about her mother, a Canadian Wren who died when she was only ten. Anne Hereford worked in the Naval Section at Bletchley Park in the last year of the war. When she was being shipped home, she was briefly interviewed by a legendary war correspondent. That recording now means the world to her daughter, May, who lives in Ottawa. Hear what happened when May tracked down a woman who worked with her mother at Bletchley Park. Thanks to CBC for letting us share that documentary from The Current.Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #vintagestyle,#AudioMo, #AudioMo2015

May 2015First this month we talk to our official photographer Shaun Armstrong who’s pictures help to tell the story of our new exhibition; Bletchley Park Rescued and Restored. Shaun was on hand to capture images from the start of the £8 million phase one restoration project, right through to the official opening in June 2014 by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge.Sarah Harding, director of the 2nd series of The Bletchley Circle was one of last years speakers in our Bletchley Park Presents series of talks. After her sold-out talk Sarah and her sister Gillian sat down to tell us about more discoveries of their mum’s Bletchley Park past.Over nearly 3 years of the podcast we have had the honour to interview around 40 of our amazing Veteran’s so far. These interviews, along with the Official Oral Archive, are building an invaluable resource of first-hand history, for not just the listeners of the podcast but for future generations to come. It is 70 years since Victory in Europe and to pay tribute to all the men and women who served we bring you the sounds of VE Day and from our own archive, the memories of our Veterans, not only remembering May 1945 but what they did next. For our Veterans their service didn’t end in 1945, as for 30 years and more in many cases, they kept the secret of their vital war work hidden from the world.The Veteran’s featured, in order of appearance are:Betty Flavell (WRNS 1944-1945) Joyce Bogoni (WAAF 1945-1947) Lady Marion Body (FO Civilian 1944-1945) Gwendoline Page (WRNS 1944-1945) Betty Webb (ATS 1941-1945) Elizabeth Marshall (WRNS 1944-1945) Dot Tuffin (WRNS 1943-1945) Jane Fawcett (FO Civilian 1940-1945) Marigold Freeman-Attwood (WRNS 1943-1945) Many thanks to The Three Belles for the use of their music. For more information go to http://thethreebelles.comPicture: Betty Webb & Marigold Freeman-Attwood ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #VEDay70, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History

May 201570 years ago on May the 7th 1945 General Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of all German forces in Europe. The next day then became Victory in Europe Day.In this clip we bring you some of the sounds from those two monumental days along with the memories of some of our amazing Veterans that we have had the honour to interview over nearly three years now.This clip includes, Betty Flavell (WRNS 1944-1945)Joyce Roberts (WAAF 1945-1947)Dot Tuffin (WRNS 1943-1945)Marigold Freeman-Attwood (WRNS 1943-1945) Picture: Staff of Huts 3 and 6 on VE Day ©Bletchley Park Trust#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #VEDay70, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History

April 2015This month we take you into our new Hut 12 Exhibit; Rescued and Restored, showcasing historical treasures found during the transformation of the Huts and Blocks. When conservation specialists were brought in to rescue fragile, derelict buildings as part of the much needed first phase of restoration, little could they know what they might find. In the cracks between roof beams in Hut 6 they discovered folded pieces of what appear to be scrap paper, with mysterious notes scribbled on them. Among them were the only known examples of used Banbury Sheets ever found. The system invented by Alan Turing was used to help deduce the daily Enigma settings, before the process was mechanised by the development of the Turing Welchman Bombe. Maths comes to life at Bletchley Park and that’s why the 2015 Milton Keynes Maths Challenge final was held there. Students from secondary schools pitted their wits against each other in a series of timed challenges. At the sound of an air raid siren, the groups dashed from one puzzle to the next, winning prizes including chocolate eggs, scientific calculators and shopping vouchers. The podcast takes you inside the minds of the competitors with members of Bletchley Park’s Education team.Pat Davies joined the Wrens in 1942 at the age of 19, in a bid to avoid being sent to join a ‘crowd of jolly girls’ from the Foreign Office at a place in Buckinghamshire called Bletchley Park, where her mother thought she should go. Pat wanted to go to sea, but it wasn’t to be as she was given the task of intercepting naval messages from a key vantage point on the south coast. Pat stopped for a chat with the Bletchley Park Podcast in the Block C cafe when she brought some old friends for a visit. Pat talk’s about her wartime service and her post war career working as a television producer. Picture: ©Bletchley Park Trust#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #AlanTuring, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History

March 2015This month join us on a very special tour of Bletchley Park, when more than twenty members of Alan Turing’s family gathered to pay tribute to his contribution to the war-winning intelligence that emerged from this unassuming country estate. It was a poignant visit for members of his family, some of whom had never been before and most who’d never met the man. Sir John Dermot Turing, a Trustee of Bletchley Park and Alan Turing’s nephew, took the opportunity to talk about exciting plans to tell the story of his uncle’s co-invention, in the newly restored Hut 11A.Find out what year six pupils from Greenleys Junior School in Milton Keynes thought of their free school trip to Bletchley Park, when they became the first school to take advantage of a pilot bursary scheme, funded by Winton Global Investment Management.Graham Moore has become a member of Hollywood’s most exclusive club, an Oscar winner. Graham won the little gold statue for his script for The Imitation Game, adapted from Andrew Hodges’ biography of Alan Turing. Dermot Turing gives us his reaction to the news and we have edited our previous interviews with Graham for this episode. We send him our congratulations and thanks.Finally this month we bring you a very poignant interview with another of our wonderful Veterans. Bombe Wren Joan Martin was one of a number of women who joined the Navy only to find they were on dry land and operating state-of-the-art machines that helped speed up the codebreaking process. Joan talks about her days working at the outstation, Eastcote, where she worked with her life-long friend Joyce Rogers.Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #AlanTuring, #ImitationGameUK, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History

March 2014In this EXTRA’s episode we bring you highlights of bestselling author, journalist and TV presenter Ben Macintyre’s talk on his book ‘A Spy Among Friends, Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal’.Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War.It is followed by the interview we recorded with Ben after his talk, that regular listeners will have heard in this month’s normal podcast, but we have added it here again for completion. This talk was given in our Bletchley Park Presents series last year. Our 2015 season of talks is about to begin, starting with Michael Smith in March and already confirmed for later in the year are Victor Madeira, Jerry White, Taylor Downing & Sinclair McKay with more names yet to be announced.For more information on these talks please go to www.bletchleypark.org and look in the What’s On section.Picture of Ben Macintyre courtesy Jonathan Ring. Cover Image courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing.#BletchleyPark, #BPark, #Spy, #ColdWar, #BenMacintyre1

February 2015 Bursaries for disadvantaged schools have Been added to Bletchley Park’s expanding education programme Winton Global Investment Management is funding a pilot bursary scheme to allow free school trips to Bletchley Park. Bletchley Park welcomes more than 9,000 schoolchildren every year to its thriving education programme. The bursaries will be available to schools which might be most in need of financial support. Each bursary will cover the cost of coach hire and 40 children attending two workshops during their time at Bletchley Park. The first school to participate in the scheme was Greenleys Junior School in Milton Keynes. A group of year six students were given a Codes and Ciphers workshop, tried their hands at operating a real World War Two Enigma machine and toured the uniquely historic site. Victoria Worpole, the Bletchley Park Trust’s Director of Learning and Collections, says “These bursaries will help enormously by making exciting and engaging school trips to Bletchley Park available to children to whom it might have been out of reach. It’s vital that we inspire young minds. Encouraging children to put themselves in the Codebreakers’ shoes to solve seemingly impossible problems brings the STEM subjects to life.” The scheme forms part of a greatly improved education programme at Bletchley Park. Cyber Security Workshops are now available either as part of a school visit or at the school itself, since the appointment of the first Online Safety Officer. Schools, colleges, clubs or societies can book an Enigma Outreach visit, where Bletchley Park’s Education Officer demonstrates a real World War Two Enigma machine which participants can try using themselves. Picture: ©ShaunArmstrong/mubsta.com #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #BPARK, #STEM

February 2015 This month best-selling author, journalist and TV presenter Ben Macintyre talks to us about his latest book, A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal. Ben spoke to us after his sell out talk last year in our Bletchley Park Presents lecture series. Tickets are on sale now for the 2015 talks which already includes Michael Smith, Victor Madeira, Jerry White, Taylor Downing and Sinclair Mackay, with more speakers to be announced soon. Then we bring you this month’s main event. In The Debs of Bletchley Park and Other Stories, best-selling author and Bletchley Park’s chief historical advisor, Michael Smith, reveals the secrets held for at least 30 years by women including a former ballerina, a convent girl and a student of German literature as well as the debutantes of the title. Seven of those stalwarts of secrecy gathered in the Mansion at Bletchley Park to tell the world’s media. Kerry Howard & Podcast Producer Mark Cotton spoke to three of them, Jean Pitt-Lewis, Margaret Mortimer and Marigold Freeman-Attwood. Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Codebreakers, #Spy, #ColdWar

January 2015The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch & Kiera Knightley, has been nominated for 8 Oscar’s Best Picture Benedict Cumberbatch for Actor in a Leading Role Kiera Knightley for Actress in a Supporting Role Directing Film Editing Music (Original Score) Production Design Writing (Adapted Screenplay)The 87th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on February the 22nd 2015. Trailer, Music & Picture: © Black Bear Pictures/Studio Canal #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #AlanTuring #ImitationGameUK, #Oscars2015

January 2015This month we are celebrating a cast of thousands who all made Crucial Contributions.Back in November, the families of the three Polish codebreaking geniuses, whose work proved invaluable in the breaking of Enigma, visited Bletchley Park. We take a look ahead at what’s new in 2015 with Bletchley Park’s Director of Learning and Collections, Victoria Worpole.A memorial plaque has been unveiled at the site of Bletchley Park’s largest outstation at Eastcote, where Bombe machines were housed & operated by over 800 Wrens during WW2. There representing Bletchley Park were Oral History Officer Jonathan Byrne and Podcast producer Mark Cotton. After the ceremony, they chatted about what’s been a bumper year for the oral history project.Finally this month, listen in to when we took Bletchley Park Veteran Rozanne Colchester into the newly renovated Hut 6 for the very first time. Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #AlanTuring, #ImitationGameUK, #PolishCodebreakers

December 2014 Bletchley Park Podcast – 2014 Christmas Special. 2014 has been a landmark year at Bletchley Park. It’s seen the transformation of the site, returning it to its wartime glory with phase one of the restorations. Royalty returned with not one but two Veterans in the family this time, and the stranger than fiction story of Alan Turing hit the silver screen. Join podcast host Katherine and producer Mark as they take you on a virtual trip around the park and back through the year to hear Royalty, Hollywood Stars and of course lots of our wonderful Veterans. Many thanks to The Three Belles for the use of their music. Their charity single for The Royal British Legion can be purchased here: http://thethreebelles.com/christmas-single Thanks to everyone who took part in our show this year and thank you to our listeners. We will be back in the New Year with more stories from The Home of The Code Breakers and wish you all, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. Picture: ©mcfontaine #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #AlanTuring, #ImitationGameUK, #TheThreeBelles

December 2014It’s been an extraordinary year at Bletchley Park and the icing on the cake would be to reach a record-breaking attendance level of 200,000 visitors before 31 December 2014. We can do it with the help of our listeners. The 200,000th visitor will be celebrated with prizes and greetings from Bletchley Park VIPs.Picture: ©mcfontaine #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #AlanTuring, #ImitationGame

December 2014This month we again have more exclusive content for you from The Imitation Game. Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Alan Turing in the film, tells us about how nerve wracking, special and even ghostly it was filming scenes at Bletchley Park.We also take you to the opening of The Imitation Game, The Exhibition, which was held at the Home of The Codebreakers with a special screening of the film. BBC 3 Counties Jane Killick and our own roving podcast reporter Astrid Specht speak to some of the guests at the black-tie event, including David Broder, location manager on The Imitation Game and a long time champion of Bletchley Park. The Turing Test is an underlying theme of the film and it’s still confounding computer scientists to this day. For more than two decades Dr Hugh Loebner has turned that into a competition which for the second time was hosted at Bletchley Park. We find out why it is still important today from the organisers and one of the judges, BBC TV’s James May.Finally this month we hear from Veteran Kathleen Wing, an Intercept Operator from 1944 to 45, who caught up with researcher, author and roving podcast reporter Kerry Howard, at the 2014 Veterans’ Reunion.Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #AlanTuring, #ImitationGameUK, #LoebnerPrize , #AISB

November 2014 With only a couple of weeks till the UK release of THE IMITATION GAME, we can now bring you more exclusive interviews with the cast and crew. Our roving reporter Astrid Specht braved the rain with patient fans at The Odeon Leicester Square for the London Film Festival premiere last month. Podcast host Katherine Lynch sits down with Director Morton Tyldum, screen writer Graham Moore and actors Allen Leech and Matthew Beard. We also bring you what was a very special moment for all of us at Bletchley Park, when Katherine sat down to start her interview with the star of the film, Benedict Cumberbatch (hear all this interview next month). Finally, when Bletchley Park Historian and Guide, Joel Greenberg recently gave a talk on his biography of Gordon Welchman, there was a very special guest in attendance. Lord Asa Briggs served at Bletchley Park from 1942 till 1945, working with Welchman in Hut 6 and then later in Block D. He spoke to the sold out audience about his time at the Government Code & Cypher School and then sat down with us for a reflective conversation. For more information on becoming a Friend of Bletchley Park go to: http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/support/friends.rhtm Trailer, Music & Picture: © Black Bear Pictures/Studio Canal #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #AlanTuring, #ImitationGameUK

October 2014This month we come to you from the red carpet at The Odeon Leicester Square for the premiere of THE IMITATION GAME. The movie based on the life and work of Codebreaker Alan Turing was picked to open the prestigious 2014 BFI London Film Festival. To celebrate the film’s release in UK cinemas on the 14th of November, Bletchley Park will open a major new exhibition, taking visitors behind the scenes of this highly anticipated movie. We’ll bring you more on that next month, now, though, we can bring you exclusive behind the scenes interviews recorded during filming in the Mansion at Bletchley Park in late 2013.We first spoke to two members of the Turing family. Dermot Turing is a Bletchley Park Trustee as well as being Alan Turing’s nephew. His son, James, signed up as a supporting actor - once known as extras, for the film .We chatted to them both about what it was like to be involved in a film about the famous relative they’re both too young to have ever met.Then, screen writer Graham Moore and executive producer Teddy Schwarzmann somehow managed to find time in the busy schedule of filming to sit down with us to talk about how they first discovered Alan’s story and wanted to bring it to the world.Finally this month, as always, we bring you an interview with a real Bletchley Park Veteran. Dot Tuffin was a Bombe Wren based first at Eastcote and later posted to Colombo. When she visited the newly restored buildings at the Veterans’ preview in May, the memories came flooding back.For more information about The Turing Trust www.turingtrust.co.uk Trailer, Music & Picture: © Black Bear Pictures/Studio Canal #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #AlanTuring, #theimitationgame

October 2014To celebrate the release of THE IMITATION GAME in UK cinemas on 14 November, Bletchley Park will open a major new exhibition, taking visitors behind the scenes of the highly anticipated movie. The exhibition will open on Tuesday 4 November with an exclusive preview screening of the film for a select audience at Bletchley Park. The same evening, this vibrant heritage attraction will preview a major new exhibition all about the making of the film, in the very room where the bar scenes were filmed.Sarah Kay, Bletchley Park’s Digitisation and Exhibitions Officer, says “THE IMITATION GAME at Bletchley Park Exhibition is an opportunity to not only provide our existing audiences the chance to see some of the film’s set dressing and some of the fantastic objects and documents created by the film’s art department. It is also an opportunity for us to reach new audiences of film fans who otherwise may not be familiar with the secret wartime work of Alan Turing and the thousands of other heroes who undertook arguably the most important work of the their lives.“The making of the film will send the history of Bletchley Park worldwide with such incredibly impressive and intense performances by some of Britain's most elite actors. Bletchley Park is incredibly proud of what the filmmakers and actors were able to achieve.”During the filming we spoke to the producer Teddy Schwarzman & the screenplay writer Graham Moore. We will bring you the full interview & many more Exclusives in future episodes of The Bletchley Park Podcast.Trailer, Music & Picture: © Black Bear Pictures/Studio Canal #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #LFF2014,