This book is a 'hidden' history of Bletchley Park during the Second World War, which explores the agency from a social and gendered perspective. It examines themes such as: the experience of wartime staff members; the town in which the agency was situated; and the cultural influences on the wartime evolution of the agency.

Bletchley Park was where one of the war’s most famous – and crucial – achievements was made: the cracking of Germany’s “Enigma” code in which its most important military communications were couched. This country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was home to Britain’s most brilliant mathematical brains, like Alan Turing, and the scene of immense advances in technology – indeed, the birth of modern computing. The military codes deciphered there were instrumental in turning both the Battle of the Atlantic and the war in North Africa. But, though plenty has been written about the boffins, and the codebreaking, fictional and non-fiction – from Robert Harris and Ian McEwan to Andrew Hodges’ biography of Turing – what of the thousands of men and women who lived and worked there during the war? What was life like for them – an odd, secret territory between the civilian and the military? Sinclair McKay’s book is the first history for the general reader of life at Bletchley Park, and an amazing compendium of memories from people now in their eighties – of skating on the frozen lake in the grounds (a depressed Angus Wilson, the novelist, once threw himself in) – of a youthful Roy Jenkins, useless at codebreaking, of the high jinks at nearby accommodation hostels – and of the implacable secrecy that meant girlfriend and boyfriend working in adjacent huts knew nothing about each other’s work.

For Winston Churchill the men and women at Bletchley Park were ‘the geese the laid the golden eggs’, providing important intelligence that led to the Allied victory in the Second World War. At the peak of Bletchley’s success, a total of twelve thousand people worked there of whom more than eight thousand were women. These included a former ballerina who helped to crack the Enigma Code; a debutante working for the Admiralty with a direct line to Churchill; the convent girl who operated the Bombes, the top secret machines that tested Enigma settings; and the German literature student whose codebreaking saved countless lives at D-Day. All these women were essential cogs in a very large machine, yet their stories have been kept secret. In The Debs of Bletchley Park author Michael Smith, trustee of Bletchley Park and chair of the Trust’s Historical Advisory Committee, tells their tale. Through interviews with the women themselves and unique access to the Bletchley Park archives, Smith reveals how they came to be there, the lives they gave up to do ‘their bit’ for the war effort, and the part they played in the vital work of ‘Station X’. They are an incredible set of women, and this is their story.

'Turing writes on codebreaking with understandable authority and compelling panache.' - Michael Smith, bestselling author of Station X. At Bletchley Park, some of Britain's most talented mathematicians, linguists, and intellectuals were assembled to break Nazi codes. Kept secret for nearly thirty years, we have now come to realise the crucial role that these codebreakers played in the Allied victory in World War II. Written by Dermot Turing - the nephew of famous codebreaker Alan Turing - this illustrated account provides unique insight into the behind-the-scenes action at Bletchley Park. Discover how brilliant and eccentric individuals such as Dilly Knox, Alan Turing and Joan Clarke were recruited, the social life that grew up around the park, and how they dealt with the ever-present burden of secrecy. Including a foreword by Professor Christopher Andrew of Cambridge University, author of MI5's official history The Secret World, this book brings to life the stories of the men and women who toiled day and night to crack the seemingly unbreakable enigma code.

Imagine a Britain where the most important sites of historical significance are replaced with housing estates and supermarkets... Imagine a Britain without Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing and a team of code breakers changed the course of World War II and where thousands of women inspired future generations with their work in the fields of computing and technology... Now imagine a group of extraordinary people, who – seventy years after the birth of the modern computer at Bletchley Park – used technology to spark a social media campaign that helped secure its future and transform it into the world-class heritage and education centre it deserves to be. This is a story about saving Bletchley Park. But it is also the story of the hundreds of people who dedicated twenty years of hard work and determination to the campaign that saved it. It is a testament to the remarkable and mysterious work during World War II that made it a place worth saving. It is a book about campaigners, veterans, enthusiasts, computer geeks, technology, Twitter, trees and Stephen Fry stuck in a lift. And finally, it is a story about preserving the past for the generations of tomorrow.

Over 15,000 pigeons were dropped into occupied Europe during WW2. Some were used by secret agents to send messages back to headquarters. Others were dropped by parachute into France, Belgium, Holland and Denmark in the hope that people would complete the attached questionnaire and provided military, political, economic or other intelligence of value for the Allies. Photographic negatives could be sent. Bletchley Park had its own loft for its pigeon spies. This book investigates the work of MI14, known as the Colomba Service, and for the first time sheds light on conditions in Occupied Europe described by extremely brave men and women who risked execution if found in possession of a pigeon. MI14 staff, decoded or translated messages and forwarded copies to SOE, SIS, MI19, RAF, RN, Ministry of Economic Warfare, BBC, Churchill, de Gaulle and President Benes of Czechoslovakia.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER Go behind the scenes of Bletchley Park, where everyday men and women risked everything for Queen and Country. A remarkable look at day-to-day life of the codebreakers whose clandestine efforts helped win World War II Bletchley Park looked like any other sprawling country estate. In reality, however, it was the top-secret headquarters of Britain’s Government Code and Cypher School—and the site where Germany’s legendary Enigma code was finally cracked. There, the nation’s most brilliant mathematical minds—including Alan Turing, whose discoveries at Bletchley would fuel the birth of modern computing—toiled alongside debutantes, factory workers, and students on projects of international importance. Until now, little has been revealed about ordinary life at this extraordinary facility. Drawing on remarkable first-hand interviews, The Secret Lives of Codebreakers reveals the entertainments, pastimes, and furtive romances that helped ease the incredible pressures faced by these covert operatives as they worked to turn the tide of World War II.

Spring, 1941. The Second World War has entered a dangerous phase, with British ships being torpedoed in the Atlantic and nightly bombing raids on major ports. At Bletchley Park, top secret home of the nation's code-breakers, the race is on to crack the German Enigma code and thus prevent further naval and military losses. This endeavour is suddenly very close to home for Frederick Rowlands, blind veteran of the Great War, when his daughter, Margaret, who works at 'the Park' as a cryptographer, is arrested on suspicion of betraying secrets to the enemy. Then a young woman is found murdered, and Rowlands is drawn into a deadly battle of wits where he must decode a series of clues that will lead him to the killer and enable him to discover the real traitor at Bletchley Park.

WW2 Codebreaking People and Places is the first volume of a series on a glossary of codebreaking, ‘People and Places’, brings to the reader an easily understandable account and listing, of those involved in collecting and analysing military intelligence, principally during the second world war. while some will be well known, such as Alan Turing, many others have made significant contributions to codebreaking but fail to attract the attention of the media for the most part. From an individual named ‘Wren’ who worked at a codebreaking outstation supporting Bletchley Park, to a mathematician who modified a codebreaking machine just prior to D-Day, to a ladies foundationwear factory in Hertfordshire that helped make machine components, these people and places now can be appreciated as to where they fitted-in within the overall picture of gathering, and processing enemy intelligence in wartime. The entries are cross-referenced to enable the reader to research as much or as little as they want, to dip-in to the glossary, to use it as a basis for further study, or just to learn a little more about the people that helped us win the war with our allied friends. .

During the Second World War, the British Royal Air Force's Special Duties Squadrons parachuted thousands of pigeons into Belgium. Bletchley Park, the nerve centre of the British Intelligence Service, had its own pigeon loft from where birds were sent on intelligence gathering missions. A secret organisation, MI14(d), was created to organise a pigeon service to occupied Europe. Those who found the pigeons were expected to supply military, economic and political intelligence for the Allies. This book includes the messages sent back from Belgium. In particular, it investigates the roles played by Josef Raskin and Jean Ceysens, the British Intelligence Services, the RAF and the brave individuals who, despite the possibility of imprisonment, sent messages to Britain in the hope it would help liberate their country.