Bletchley Park

December 2023

Eighty years ago this month Britain was marking its fifth Christmas of the war with still no end in sight. D-Day still lay in the future and the campaigns in Italy and on the Eastern Front ground on.

However on Boxing Day 1943 the Royal Navy achieved a significant, if grim success over the German Navy, sinking the Scharnhorst, one of the few last remaining large warships in the enemy fleet. This victory would help to secure the safety of Allied convoys to Russia for the remaining 18 months of the war.

The codebreakers of Bletchley Park played a key role in helping the navy to locate Scharnhorst and were spectators on the final battle via German messages read in Naval Section at BP.

For this It Happened Here episode we are joined by Bletchley Park?s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon who?s recently published a book on the subject entitled, Arctic Convoys; Bletchley Park and the War for the Seas.

Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson & Sarah Langston for voicing our archival documents.

Image: © Bundesarchiv, DVM 10 Bild-23-63-46 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

November 2023

For our tenth anniversary episode, E141 ?Security & Insecurity?, we discussed one of the most important factors in wartime codebreaking ? secrecy. We looked at its effects on operations at Bletchley Park and the lives of those who worked there. 

We had so much to talk about on that occasion that we didn?t have the chance to explore beyond the bounds of Bletchley Park. However, as signals intelligence travelled to the battlefronts where commanders made life-and-death decisions on a daily basis, security was a bigger problem than anywhere else.

In this follow-up episode, Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham is again joined by a special guest, former GCHQ Departmental Historian Tony Comer, to discuss the problems of security in the field. We?ll hear how the safe use of Ultra intelligence required good planning, flexibility and, most of all, trust.

Many thanks to Owen Moogan & Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2023

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #GCHQ,

October 2023

The fight up the Italian peninsula involved some of the most arduous battles of the war for Allied soldiers, but they were being supported at every stage by intelligence from Bletchley Park.

Ultra intelligence helped inform Allied strategy in Italy, kept commanders constantly up-to-date about enemy forces, and sometimes proved the difference between victory and defeat on the battlefield.

In this ?It Happened Here? episode, Bletchley Park?s Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham will tell us how this difficult and inconclusive campaign can also be seen as one of the most successful of the war for Bletchley Park.

Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

Very special thanks to Lowden Jim for his recording of The D-Day Dodgers. His work can be found at  www.youtube.com/Lowdenjim 

Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2023

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

September 2023

The annual Bletchley Park Veterans? Reunion is one of the highlights of our year. A chance to welcome back those who worked for Bletchley Park during World War Two, and thank them for their service. This year?s reunion saw 17 Veterans return to enjoy a very special afternoon tea in the Mansion. 

In this episode, we bring you highlights from the day as we caught up with Jean Cheshire, who lived at Bletchley Park with her parents and siblings during the war, as well as Veterans:

Carol Broughton 
Alice Wolynskyj 
Ruth Bourne
Charlotte ?Betty? Webb

2023 marks 10 years of the online Bletchley Park Roll of Honour, and we also bring you a short interview with our Oral history Officer, Jonathan Byrne about its ongoing significance.

You can also enjoy an interview with Sue Litchfield, Database & Membership Manager, who has been involved with reunions since 2005, and Iain Standen, CEO of Bletchley Park Trust, who talks about why these events are so special.

Image: ©Will Amlot for the Bletchley Park Trust 2023

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

August 2023

This month we examine the often-overlooked story of GC&CS?s work on diplomatic codes and ciphers. 

This vital work predated work on military codes, beginning when CG&CS was created in 1919. Work continued throughout World War Two, with some staff eventually leaving Bletchley Park to carry on as the Government Communications Bureau in Berkeley Street London.

In this special episode our Research Historian Dr David Kenyon is joined by GCHQ?s Departmental Historian Dr David Abrutat, to discuss all things diplomatic and beyond.

This episode features the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:

Sir Arthur Bonsall 
Stephen Freer

Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

Image: ©Crown. Reproduced by kind permission, Director, GCHQ

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #GCHQ,

July 2023

In 1943, when the guns fell silent in Tunisia, a lull fell over the war in the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, the work of the intelligence services continued unabated. An Allied amphibious assault somewhere in the Mediterranean was inevitable. The question for the Germans was ?where?? ? and the Allies were eager to supply the answers. But how much could the Allies mislead the enemy, and how far could Bletchley Park prove those deceptions were working?

When they came, the landings in Sicily in July 1943 marked the opening of a new front against the Axis in Italy, with far-reaching strategic consequences.

In this ?It Happened Here? episode, Bletchley Park?s Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham leads us through Operation Husky, and Bletchley Park?s role in its execution and success.

Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

Image: © US Army Green Books (Public Domain)

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

June 2023

Who chose Bletchley Park ? a vacant estate in Buckinghamshire ? as the wartime home of the Codebreakers? That decision was made by the man in charge of the Secret Intelligence Service, known as ?C? ? Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair. A very public man with a very secretive profession, Sinclair was widely-known and well-respected. He passed away just a couple of months after World War Two began in 1939, but his influence was far-reaching. 

Bletchley Park Trust is proud to be displaying, for the first time, a collection of medals awarded to Sinclair throughout his life. This recent generous donation, from members of his family, forms this year?s ?Object in Focus? exhibition. The display is an opportunity to reveal a lesser-known character in Bletchley Park?s story, and a chance to honour this important and charismatic individual.

In this episode, we will be speaking to Bletchley Park?s Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham and award-winning author Mick Smith to find out more about ?C?. We?ll also hear from Exhibitions Manager Erica Munro about the new exhibition, and meet members of Sinclair?s family to uncover more about the collection of medals on display and the family history.

Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

Image: © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by kind permission, Director GCHQ

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

May 2023

Like many heritage organisations, Bletchley Park Trust holds a collection within its storerooms. And we are always seeking to improve how it?s managed and taken care of. Now, due to the support of foundations, trusts and generous individuals, we?ve created a new Collection Centre. Once the building had been refurbished and kitted out, the curatorial team had the mammoth task of moving and rehousing the collection of over 400,000 items: from intelligence reports to teleprinter components, clothing to coded messages.

The new Collection Centre was completed in October 2022 and boasts first class storage and preservation facilities. There?s also a brand new Reading Room, allowing researchers and academics to access our archives and objects for their publications or teaching work.

The Bletchley Park Podcast went for a behind-the-scenes tour with Head of Programmes Nicola Ayrton, and sat down with Museum Archivist Dean Annison in the new Reading Room to explore some of the collections treasures from the stores.

Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2023. Dean Annison, Bletchley Park's Archivist, in the Christopher Moore Reading Room.

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

April 2023 

80 years ago, Bletchley Park?s communications centre opened in Block E. Employing hundreds of staff, mainly young women, this block was vital to BP?s smooth running.

Most messages and reports coming into and out of Bletchley Park went through Block E. But as we?ll hear in this ?It Happened Here? episode, its wartime importance doesn?t necessarily mean its value has been fully recognised today. Block E is still standing, and is due to open to the public later this year, 2023, as Bletchley Park?s brand new Learning Centre.

Here to help us set the record straight and rediscover the value of Block E is our Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham, who has been researching the building and its various departments.

Many thanks to Dr Ben Thompson, Sarah Langston and Maria Turnbull for voicing our archival documents.

Image: Block E Cypher Office showing Mr Alfred Sidney White (wearing glasses). © Crown. Reproduced by kind permission, Director, GCHQ

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

March 2023 

To celebrate World Poetry Day on the 21st of March, we have been looking into the poets and poetry of Bletchley Park.

We have chosen nine poems to feature in this episode; they are read by staff, volunteers and Bletchley Park Veterans.

Exhibitions Manager, Erica Munro and Research Officer, Dr Thomas Cheetham have been digging into the archives to give us more information as we listen.

Thanks to all our readers for their time and fantastic performances.

A special thank you to the Watkins family for the wonderful recording of their mother, Gwen Watkins.

Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2023

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #WorldPoetryDay, 

February 2023 

The breaking of the German Lorenz cipher system was one of BP's most complex technical achievements. This work is often associated with Tommy Flowers from the GPO, however Flowers' work, and the wider mechanisation of the breaking of TUNNY was overseen by a Cambridge mathematician who came to BP only reluctantly in 1942; Professor Max Newman. 

To mark the 80th anniversary of the opening of Bletchley Park?s 'Newmanry' in February 1943, in this ?It Happened Here? episode, we examine the story of Newman and his crucial role in the breaking of Lorenz.

We are joined by Bletchley Park?s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon to tell us more.

Special thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

Image: ©Crown. Reproduced by kind permission, Director, GCHQ

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, # Colossus,

January 2023 
The Podcast Team wish all our listeners a Very Happy New Year. 
To start the 2023 season of the podcast, producer Mark Cotton sits down with Oral History Officer Jonathan Byrne to catch-up on both our Roll of Honour and our continuing Oral History Project. 
For the rest of the episode we have highlights of 3 selections from our Oral History Archive. As with previous years we have a theme ? but this year the theme is unusual, they are all from people who didn?t work at either GC&CS or its Outstations. We hear from the 14 year old girl who made vital deliveries to the Codebreakers, a member of S.O.E., the Special Operations Executive and finally a Luftwaffe Radio Operator.
This episode features the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Jean Barratt
Lois Barefield
Rudi Schoberl
The Bletchley Park Roll of Honour can be found at:
https://bletchleypark.org.uk/roll-of-honour/ 
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2023
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

December 2022 
Since the first two Top Secret Misinformation podcasts in 2020 & 2021, our listeners have been asking us to record another one. Maybe it?s because the secrecy surrounding Bletchley Park is the perfect breeding ground for all sorts of myths and misunderstandings. Or maybe it?s because it lets our Historians off the leash to set the record straight once and for all.
We asked our listeners, via social media, what history mysteries they wanted solved by our resident representatives of research and rigour, Dr David Kenyon and Dr Thomas Cheetham. In this episode they are joined by Exhibitions Manager Erica Munro and podcast producer Mark Cotton, to try and get to the bottom of some of Bletchley Park?s most puzzling conundrums.
Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Featuring the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Betty Webb
Shaun Wylie
Mavis Batey
Peggy Huntingdon
Joan Joslin
Producers Note:
Many thanks to our listeners and followers for setting us these challenges. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2022
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

November 2022 
The Allied victory in the Second Battle of El Alamein in November 1942 proved to be the beginning of the end of the war in North Africa. But many months of hard fighting, and the opening of a whole new front in northwest Africa, would be needed before the Allies were finally able to kick Axis forces off that continent for good.
Though often forgotten about today, the Operation Torch landings were a pivotal event which led to the first battles between German and American forces. These troops, and the intelligence personnel who supported them, had to learn their trade quickly in the toughest of circumstances. 
In this 'It Happened Here' episode, Bletchley Park's Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham reveals how these lessons would prove fundamental to the Allied use of intelligence later in the war
This episode is hosted by Exhibitions Manager, Erica Munro. 
Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson and Owen Moogan for voicing our archival documents.
Image: © US Army Green Books (Public Domain)
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

October 2022 
In February 1942 the worst fears of the teams working on Enigma in Hut 8 and Naval Section were realised. The German navy introduced a new, more complex Enigma machine for use by its U-boats in the Atlantic. 
At a stroke, Bletchley Park was no longer able to read messages sent by the German submarines hunting the vital Atlantic convoys. 
By the end of the year, however, the new code had been broken, and BP was once again able to divine the secrets of the Atlantic U-boats. Just what was ?SHARK? and how was it broken by the team at BP?
Once again we are joined by Bletchley Park?s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon to find the answers.
Special thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Featuring the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Arnold Hargreaves
Tommy Flowers
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2022  
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

September 2022 
Earlier this year in April 2022, Bletchley Park opened a new temporary exhibition in a brand new gallery. The Art of Data explores how data can be visualised to reveal patterns and stories, helping us understand the world around us. The exhibition includes WW2 visualisations alongside a whole variety of striking contemporary examples, shown in objects, pictures, films and interactive displays. Visitors are invited to question the data they encounter, and take part in building their own visualisations in the gallery. 
In this episode, you are invited to join me, Bletchley Park?s Exhibitions Manager Erica Munro, on a tour through the gallery. You?ll also hear from two experts who worked on the exhibition, Elin Simonsson and Andy Kirk.
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2022  
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

September 2022 
Each year, to mark the arrival of the first Codebreakers at GC&CS in 1939 we hold our Veterans? Reunion. The Reunion is always a very special day for us at Bletchley Park as it gives us the chance to thank our Veterans for their service. For the Veterans it is a chance to meet old friends, make new ones, reminisce and tell stories of their time here.
This year it was made more poignant as because of the global pandemic, this was the first we have been able to hold since 2019. It meant that we were not sure just how many would be able to make it, but twenty Veterans and over one hundred of their family and friends managed to join us for this special day.
Podcast Producer Mark Cotton will bring you a flavour of the day and interviews with the following Veterans:
Kay Wingate
Pat Field
Anne Chetwynd-Stapylton
Miriam Myland
Jean Cheshire (wartime resident) 
Betty Webb
Pat Davies
Many thanks to Alex McFadyen, editor of the official Bletchley Park magazine, Ultra, for assisting on the day. 
Image: ©Will Amlot for the Bletchley Park Trust 2022 
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

August 2022 
This month instead of commemorating a World War 2 Anniversary, we have decided to do something a little different as we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Bletchley Park Podcast. 
So after 10 years and more than 170 hours of content, we decided to answer our most frequently asked question, ?How was Bletchley Park kept secret??.
Such a ?big question? would be too much for just one historian to answer, so this month we have three. Our Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon & Research Officer, Dr Thomas Cheetham are joined by GCHQ?s former Departmental Historian, Tony Comer as they delve into Bletchley Park?s wartime Security & Insecurity. 
Special thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
This episode features Wyn Ribchester from our Oral History Archive.
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2022  
Producers Note:
We would like to thank everyone who has helped to create the show over the last decade. The list is far too long for here, but I?ve included many of them in the middle of this show. 
Finally, the biggest thank you has to go out to our loyal listeners; we have so much fun making these shows for you. Thanks for sticking with us and here?s to the next 10 years. 
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Spys,

July 2022 
Eighty years ago, in July 1942 the Allies suffered one of their most notorious losses of World War 2. The Merchant ship convoy PQ 17, carrying supplies to Russia was attacked in the Arctic seas by German aircraft and submarines. Out of 34 merchant ships in the convoy only 11 made it safely to Russia. 
The incident has become symbolic of the suffering and endurance of those involved in the Arctic convoys.
In this episode we revisit the events of July 1942 as well as the wider naval war in the Arctic, in order to put PQ17 in context. How typical were the losses to PQ17? Just how effective was the German campaign against the convoys to Russia? And what part did intelligence from Bletchley Park play in these events?
As usual we are joined by Bletchley Park?s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon to tell us more.
Very special thanks go to Owen Moogan for voicing our archival documents.
Featuring the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Alan Strip Harry Hinsley
Image: HMS Victorious on escort duty. Mick Chalkley (Fleet Air Arm 1939-45)   
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #PQ17 

June 2022 
In this ?It Happened Here? episode we return to South Asia and the Pacific, and the war against the Japanese.
After the disasters of Pearl Harbor, the Philippines and Singapore, and near disaster in Colombo in the first few months of 1942, the summer months would bring the Allies better fortune on the fighting fronts.
1942 would also see many changes for Britain?s Codebreakers in South and East Asia as they rushed to adapt to the changing situation ? a situation requiring the service of men and women from surprisingly diverse backgrounds and communities.
As usual we are joined by Bletchley Park?s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon to tell us more.
Grateful thanks to Sarah Langston and Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Featuring the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Edward Simpson
Pat Johnston
Image: US Navy, Naval Photographic Centre (Public Domain)
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Midway80

May 2022
The way in which the secrets of Bletchley Park were finally revealed to the world, bit by bit and now over the course of nearly four decades have meant that many myths and misunderstandings have become embedded in the story. One of our goals with these podcasts is to tell the full story of the Codebreakers and along the way hopefully correct some of those errors.   
So in this ?It Happened Here? episode we will take a deep dive into Traffic Analysis, a topic that we have mentioned in many episodes and for years has been thought of as just another step in the ?path of breaking a message?.  Our research officer, Dr Thomas Cheetham, will argue that in fact it was a fully-fledged source of intelligence in its own right. He will guide us through not only the history and processes of Traffic Analysis but also those of SIXTA, the section at Bletchley Park most famously known for producing it.
Very special thanks go to Dr Ben Thomson and Owen Moogan for voicing our archival documents.
This episode features recordings of SIXTA Veteran, Jimmy Thirsk, from both our Podcast and Oral History Archives.
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2022
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #TheIntelligenceFactory

May 2022
Bletchley Park held a number of events to celebrate the opening of The Intelligence Factory and in this special episode we will take you to those events to hear from VIP guests, supporters and some of the people who helped to create our largest exhibition to date.
From the ?Friends of Bletchley Park? Preview we will hear from some of the first people who got to follow in the footsteps of our Veterans, in the newly restored Block A.
Dr Emily Scott-Dearing, the Interpretation Lead for The Intelligence Factory, explains how you tell the complex story of thousands of people working for the Government Code and Cypher School during the latter half of WW2.
At our VIP Opening we will be joined by broadcaster and History Hit star, Dan Snow, to hear how the new exhibition expands the codebreaking story and what it can teach us today. Then Dan is joined by Research Historian Dr David Kenyon, GCHQ Departmental Historian Dr David Abrutat and Intelligence Historian Dr Claire Hubbard-Hall for a panel discussion.
To find out how you can become a ?Friend of Bletchley Park? please go to https://bletchleypark.org.uk/friends/ 
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2022
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #TheIntelligenceFactory

April 2022
Thursday 28th April 2022 sees Bletchley Park unveiling its largest exhibition to date, in the newly restored Block A. Its focus is the period from late 1942 to early 1945, when the demands of its crucial wartime work changed the Government Code and Cypher School from a ?cottage industry? into an industrial-scale intelligence operation. The name of the exhibition is, very aptly, ?The Intelligence Factory?. 
Block A was the first of the purpose-built ?Block? buildings that marked the scaling up of the codebreaking operation. Therefore it is fitting that it houses this major new addition to Bletchley Park?s visitor experience. 
Exhibitions Manager Erica Munro will take listeners through the same corridors that were at the very heart of the expanding top secret site 80 years ago. Join us on an exclusive preview tour to uncover the stories, displays and activities that visitors can explore as they walk in the footsteps of our Veterans.
It took a huge team of people to create ?The Intelligence Factory? and for this special behind-the-scenes episode, Research Historian Dr David Kenyon and Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham will also be taking us through the rigorous historical research that underpins the entire exhibition. Tomatoes, oars and coal-fired boilers don?t normally spring to mind when thinking of WW2 codebreaking - find out what part they played in the story of the scaling up of Bletchley Park.
This episode features the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Rozanne Colchester Sheila Willson
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2022
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #TheIntelligenceFactory

March 2022
Bletchley Park is synonymous with World War Two codebreaking, but the story is much bigger than just a country house in Buckinghamshire. Making, as well as breaking codes, was within the remit of the Government Code and Cypher School but is a much lesser known part of the story.
In this extended ?It Happened Here? episode, we not only find out about the British efforts to create codes of their own, but also German codebreaking successes and failures. 
Bletchley Park?s Research Officer, Dr Thomas Cheetham, introduces us to the section of GC&CS creating Allied codes from the sleepy surroundings of a university college in Oxford. Whist Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon, explores the numerous German ?Bletchley Parks? whose task it was to break those very codes.
British Codemakers and German Codebreakers, the two way traffic of the intelligence war. 
This episode features the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
June Coppock Sergeant Bernard Morgan
Image: Mansfield College in the mid-20th century. © Mansfield College, Oxford
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory

February 2022 
In every theatre of war, early 1942 was a dark time for the Allies. Japan seemed unstoppable in the Pacific. The Germans were at the gates of Moscow, threatening Egypt and prowling the Atlantic lifeline at sea. But at Bletchley Park there were far reaching changes to both the leadership and organisation that had one clear objective - to support the ultimate Allied victory. 
In this It Happened Here episode, our research officer Dr Thomas Cheetham, guides us through the dramatic changes that would transform GC&CS into an ?Intelligence Factory?. 
Special thanks go to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
This episode features the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Harry Hinsley
Jimmy Thirsk
Stephen Freer
Image: © George C. Marshall Foundation, Lexington, VA, USA
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory

January 2022 
The Podcast Team wish all our listeners a Very Happy New Year and how better to start it than with some great news. 
With over 13,500 names so far, The Bletchley Park Roll of Honour aims to list all those who worked in signals intelligence for the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries during the Second World War. As no single list of the personnel of Bletchley Park and its outstations was ever produced, the Roll of Honour has been compiled from information in official sources, publications and, most importantly, that provided by the Veterans themselves, their former colleagues and families.
In this episode, Podcast Producer Mark Cotton sits down with Oral History Officer Jonathan Byrne to talk about the online return of this vital research tool, what it contains and how Veterans and their families can help us to continue adding to it. He also updates us on the Oral History Project and shares some highlights from recordings made in 2021.
The Bletchley Park Roll of Honour can be found at:
https://bletchleypark.org.uk/roll-of-honour/ 
This episode features the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Sheila Wilson Eric Coles Lola Marsden
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2022
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory

December 2021 
On the 7th of December 1941, Japanese invasion forces landed in Malaya. An hour and a half later Japanese aircraft attacked the US fleet, at anchor in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Simultaneous attacks were also made on Hong Kong, Guam, Wake Island and the Philippines.
Since that day controversy has raged over how much the British and US Governments knew in advance about these attacks, and why they came as such a surprise to both countries.
In this It Happened Here episode, Bletchley Park?s Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon examines the intelligence background to the ?Day of Infamy? and explores just what British and US codebreakers really knew about Japanese plans.
Featuring the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Stephen Freer Edward Simpson
Image: US Army Green Books (Public Domain)
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #PearlHarbor80

November 2021 
Many visitors to Bletchley Park are familiar with the story of breaking Enigma and reading German and even Japanese codes. But equally important work was done on Italian ciphers.
Not only were the Codebreakers able to read Italian naval messages, before and during the war, but this information was used to decisive effect in the Battle for North Africa, and the ultimate defeat of Italy in 1943.
In this It Happened Here episode, Bletchley Park?s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon reveals the secrets of one of Bletchley Park?s lesser-known decryption successes.
As always, grateful thanks go to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Featuring the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Mavis Batey
Rozanne Colchester
Image: HM Fulmine from the Private Archive of Burzagli Family (Public Domain)
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

October 2021 
On the 21st of October 1941, four of Bletchley Park?s Codebreakers sent a plea for more staff and resources in a now notorious letter to the Prime Minister. Demand for Bletchley Park?s work was increasing, and the organisation was facing a crisis. 
Churchill was won over, adding the note ?Action This Day? to the document. But perhaps the changes that followed weren?t just the result of the Prime Minister?s influence.
In this ?It Happened Here? episode, Dr Thomas Cheetham explores the problems the Codebreakers were facing and how this letter was only part of the wider story.
Thanks as always for voicing our archival documents to Dr Ben Thomson, and to Geoffrey Welchman who recreates the letter co-authored by his grandfather.
Featuring the following contributors from our Oral History Archive:
Sir Arthur Bonsall
Elizabeth Marshall
Mimi Gallilee
Arnold Hargreaves
Gwendoline Herbert
Barbara Hart
Judith Wainer
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

September 2021 
After Britain?s failure at Dunkirk and the Fall of France, the Germans seemed unstoppable. An invasion of Britain by Germany seemed the next logical step.
In 1940, Britain and Bletchley Park prepared for war on the Home Front. As the German air campaign brought air combat with the Battle of Britain and bombs by night during the Blitz, the RAF - supported by intelligence from Bletchley Park - fought back.
In this It Happened Here episode, Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham is our guide to Britain?s finest hour.
Special thanks go to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
In memoriam to the Veterans featured in this episode, Rolf Noskwith, Eileen Younghusband and Sir Arthur Bonsall.
Image: Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspecting members of Coventry's Warden Service. ©Mirrorpix
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #BOB80,

August 2021 
Hindsight and the lifting of decades of secrecy, allows us to know that by 1945 Bletchley Park had become a ?codebreaking factory? supplying war winning intelligence to the Allies ultimate victory. 
But what was it like for the 185 members of staff on Monday the 4th of September 1939? And ? who were they?
Supported by the UK government?s Culture Recovery Fund, our new exhibition ?Early Days? covers the events of 1938 to late 1939 and tells the story of the first Bletchley Park Codebreakers.
Exhibitions Manager Erica Munro guides us through the 5 scenes of the exhibition, the challenges of turning the start of the codebreaking story into a physical gallery and many of the highlights visitors will see. All of this, within one of the first rooms to be used by the Codebreakers in autumn 1939. 
As his first major project when start at the museum, Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham, explains the painstaking work that has gone into the least documented period of Bletchley Park. This has led to being able to list every one of those 185 members of staff turning up for work on the second day of World War Two.
Special thanks go to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

July 2021 
In late 2020 we asked on social media for any questions our listeners wanted the podcast team to answer. We had so many that we needed to record a second episode that originally we had planned for January 2021. Unfortunately due to COVID restrictions this wasn?t possible ? but now, we are back.
In this episode, Exhibitions Manager Erica Munro, Research Historian Dr David Kenyon, Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham and podcast producer Mark Cotton, will be shining a light on some famous Bletchley Park myths and answering some fascinating questions from our brilliant listeners.
Many thanks to our listeners and followers for setting us these challenges.
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

June 2021 
Eighty years ago in June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in what Hitler hoped would be a lightning campaign to destroy Bolshevism and provide ?living space? for his empire in the east. 
The result was four years of brutal conflict which shaped the world we live in today.
What did the codebreakers at Bletchley Park know about the Germans? plans of attack? Was Stalin warned? And how did the war in the east play out at BP?
In this It Happened Here episode we are joined by our Research Historian Dr David Kenyon to tell us more about the signals intelligence picture on the eastern front.
Special thanks go to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Image: Public Domain
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory, #AudioMo

June 2021 
By late May 1940 the Germans have arrived at the French coast, cutting the Allied forces in two. Their risky invasion plan ?Fall Gelb? (or ?Case Yellow?) has paid off.  For the Allies, things will only get worse - an evacuation of the British forces from Dunkirk, the capture of Paris and the ultimate humiliation at Compiègne.
It also marked a turning point for Bletchley Park. The attack led the Germans to change their Enigma procedures which had been exploited so successfully by the Hut 6 team. It took a creative approach, as well as some lazy enemy operating procedures, to restore Bletchley Park?s capability in reading German messages.
In the second part of this special ?It Happened Here? episode, Dr Thomas Cheetham guides us through the dramatic world events that could have seen Bletchley Park lose the ability to read Enigma for the rest of the war. 
Special thanks go to Gus Munro and Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
©Bletchley Park Trust 2021
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory,

June 2021 
In May 1940, the much-anticipated German attack on France brings the Phoney War to an end. The French have the largest land army in the world, the Maginot Line giving them hundreds of miles of defences and they know the route the Germans will take. But in the space of only a few weeks, the entire strategic course of World War Two is turned on its head. The Germans have gambled on a new invasion plan, ?Fall Gelb? (or ?Case Yellow?) to set them on a risky route through the Ardennes and a dash to the coast.
With so many dramatic events happening in such a short period of time, we will be telling the story of ?Fall Gelb? over two ?It Happened Here? episodes.
In this first part, Dr Thomas Cheetham takes us through the planning and first phases of the operation, and the German and Allied intelligence activity that surrounded it. 
Special thanks go to Sarah Langston and Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Image: Commander Denniston?s 1940 Diary ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory,

April 2021    Patricia Johnston?s idyllic childhood in Rangoon came to an abrupt end on the 7th of December 1941, with the attack on Pearl Harbour. In early 1942 with the Japanese invasion getting ever closer she was flown out with her siblings and arrived in India, without her parents.      After settling her two brothers in boarding school Patricia?s war really began. She realised after completing her training that nursing wasn?t for her and transferred to the recently formed Women's Auxiliary Corps. Following a first posting in a Camouflage School and receiving a commission, her link to Bletchley Park began when she joined an SLU Unit as an Intelligence Officer.    Based at military command posts around the world Special Liaison Units received Ultra reports via secure links run by Special Communication Units. They then passed this intelligence directly on to the commanders in the field to ensure the Ultra secret was protected.   Oral History Volunteer Mike Chapman joins Pat to travel back 75 years to map out not only Pat?s wartime service but also that of her husband and fellow Bletchley Park Veteran, Bill Sanglier.     We hear of her embarrassment of paying school fees with damp money, the Japanese pilot she said a prayer for, how an infamous Cold War Russian spy was taught to cook curry by Pat?s mother and how working in Military Intelligence could at times feel like living in cloud cuckoo land.     Image, courtesy of Mrs Patricia Johnston.   #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory,

April 2021    Bletchley Park?s latest temporary exhibition is called ?Never Alone? and asks ?what happens when everything is connected?? Based on an exhibition developed and designed by the National Science and Media Museum, ?Never Alone? explores the popularity and power of smart devices.   There are now more devices connected to the internet than people on the planet. ?Smart? gadgets are becoming part of our lives, making us safer, bringing people together and making everyday tasks easier. In the exhibition, we explore the issues behind these gadgets. We discover some wartime objects and stories that show how concerns about privacy and surveillance aren?t unique to the internet age. You are invited to think about the decisions you make when you click ?OK?, and to consider what being connected means to you.   In this episode we meet two people who have loaned us objects for display, ethical hacker Ken Munro of Pen Test Partners and local museum professional Amy Doolan. We start by taking a tour of the exhibition in Hut 12.   Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021   #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

April 2021    Our Veterans who served in one of the three women?s auxiliary services during World War Two are always proud of their particular branch and WAAF Daphne Canning is no exception. When Oral History Officer Jonathan Byrne interviewed her in 2017 she was still proud to have worn her ?Sparks? badge; the insignia of a Royal Air Force Wireless Operator.    These Oral History Specials allow us to bring you the complete recordings of interviews we have previously featured only as much shorter versions. In this episode, Daphne, who volunteered at 17½, tells us about becoming a Wireless Operator, then later a Morse Slip Reader and also how she survived a being hit by a V1 rocket.    This interview is really three for the price of one because Daphne also tells us the stories of her father and her husband. All three of them linked not just as family but as Wireless Operators helping the Codebreakers at Bletchley Park.   Image, courtesy of Mrs Daphne Canning.    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory,

March 2021    In our last Oral History Special we brought you the first part of a 2017 interview with former WREN, Mary Sherrard. From 1942 until the end of the war, Mary served at Bletchley Park and then at the Eastcote Bombe Outstation. This helped shaped the rest of her life because it was at Eastcote where she met her future husband John.    After originally servicing Spitfires in 1940, an interview at the Foreign Office sent John to Eastcote and Stanmore to maintain Mary?s Bombe machines. By the time of his demob from the RAF in 1946, he had risen to the rank of Warrant Officer and married his ?Scot?s girl?.    In this second part, Mary talks to Oral History Volunteer Mike Chapman about not only her time at GC&CS but also shares John?s story. We hear about the rest of the war and also their fascinatingly varied post-war lives.   These two episodes are tributes to both Mary (1923-2020) and John (1921-1999).   Image ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021   #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory,

March 2021 
In March 1946, as an ?Iron Curtain? was descending across Europe, in post-war London a document was signed that to this day is the basis of the most important and longest intelligence relationship that the UK has. But that Special Relationship with the USA didn?t suddenly begin 75 years ago; it was the culmination of five years of wartime collaboration.
In this episode Podcast Producer, Mark Cotton, and our Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon, go back to February 1941 and look at each of the milestones that led up to the signing of the UKUSA Agreement ? five years that forged a Special Relationship.
Special thanks to Steven Eric Wilson and Mr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Image ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #GCHQ,

February 2021    To keep you going during the lockdown, the podcast team will be bringing you a new episode every two weeks.   Last year we featured short clips from dozens of our Veterans telling us what they did on VE Day & VJ Day. Now in these Oral History Specials we can bring you the longer versions of those interviews, allowing our Veterans to tell their full story, in their own voices and in their own way.    Vital to us capturing these interview are a team of brilliant volunteers who visit our Veterans at home to record them. In this episode we join one of those Oral History Volunteers, Mike Chapman, who in 2017 travelled up to the Scottish Borders to interview Mary Sherrard. Mary recorded a fascinating and especially long interview with Mike which we are going to bring you in two parts.  In this first part Mary tells us about joining the Women?s Royal Naval Service and arriving at Bletchley Park in 1942.   Image ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021   #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory,

February 2021    As we did last year we have decided to release extra content again during the current lockdown and so for at least the next couple of months we will be bringing you a new show every two weeks. These will be a mixture of Oral History Specials and also our regular content as and when COVID restrictions allow us.    Last year we featured short clips from dozens of our Veterans telling us what they did on VE Day & VJ Day. Now in these Oral History Specials we can bring you the longer versions of those interviews, allowing our Veterans to tell their full story, in their own voices and in their own way.    In early 2020, in what would become one the last interviews carried out just weeks before the pandemic, our Oral History Officer, Jonathan Byrne and his colleague Will Hankey sat down with GC&CS Veteran Tim Edwards. Previously we heard what Tim got up to on the day the war ended in Europe and now we can bring you much more of that interview. Tim?s reminisces about how the discovery of an eyesight problem suddenly stopped his training to be a pilot in the RAF and landed him at Bletchley Park working on German Air Force codes.     Image ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021   #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory,

January 2021    As we release this episode Bletchley Park Museum is currently closed as the UK is in a national lockdown to help contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Our staff and volunteers like so many around the world are in lockdown, self-isolation or working remotely from home. Unfortunately it means the promised second part of our Q&A?s from our listeners is on-hold for now, but once we are safe to do so we will bring you that show.   As we did last year during the first lockdown we will endeavour to continue to bring you new episodes of the podcast. With that in mind we thought back to our VE & VJ Day episodes from last year which included very short clips from dozens of our more than 500 Oral History recordings. So until we can resume our ?normal service? it seems the perfect time to shine a light on our Veterans by bringing you the full versions of some of those interviews, in these Oral History Specials.   For the first of these special shows we have selected Sheila Wilson who came to Bletchley Park in 1944 to serve in the Naval Section plotting Allied shipping. A post-war career which included becoming a Psychotherapist has given Sheila a truly deep and at times existential view of her time at GC&CS. This makes her interview, which was recorded in 2015, simply fascinating.

But first, before lockdown, we sat down with Jonathan Byrne to talk about why collecting the Oral Histories of our Veterans is so vitally important.

Image ©Bletchley Park Trust 2021

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #OralHistory,

December 2020    At the end of each year we like to focus on the important work that our Oral History Officer Jonathan Byrne and his team of staff and volunteers carry out. As with so many around the world, COVID-19 has had a huge effect on the work of Jonathan?s team in 2020.   In this episode we catch-up with Jonathan for an update on the Oral History Project and he shares four more highlights from our archive of 550 interviews.   Gwen Adsley was a civilian working in the Communications Section from 1942. Food, or the lack of it, is an abiding memory for her so being able to get an unexpected loaf of bread was a real pleasure.    Trixie Davison wanted to do her bit after the Blitz on London and become a Radar Operator so left her Civil Service job and joined the ATS. A problem with her eyesight meant she was transferred to work at Kedleston Hall and Forest Moor Y stations as an intercept operator.   Roy Maycock was 6 years old on the day that war was declared and living in what was then the village of Bletchley. During the war his family had both children evacuated from London and Bletchley Park staff billeted on them.   Molly Morgan wanted to serve her country, so defying her father?s wishes, resigned from her reserved occupation at The Bank of England and joined the WRNS. Instead of a posting by the sea she was sent to Buckinghamshire to work in the Naval Section alongside Frank Birch.    We would like to wish all our listeners a safe and Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year for 2021.    Image courtesy of Gwen Adsley

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

November 2020 
For the first time since January 2020 the podcast team were able to be physically in the same room together, even if socially distanced. So to mark this return we decided to ask our listeners on social media for their questions about Bletchley Park. 
In this, the first of these shows, Exhibitions Manager Erica Munro, Research Historian Dr David Kenyon, Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham and podcast producer Mark Cotton, will hopefully answer those questions and maybe do a bit of myth busting along the way.
Many thanks to our listeners and followers for setting us these challenges.
Special thanks, as always, go to Mr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2020
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

October 2020    For over 8 years the podcast has been privileged to receive help and support from the modern day version of the wartime Government Code and Cypher School, GCHQ, both as an organisation and from their Departmental Historian.    Previous listeners will know that GCHQ has a new Historian and in Podcast Episode 98, we had the honour of being able to exclusively reveal his identity when we met him at the GCHQ Centenary celebrations at the National Memorial Arboretum in November 2019.    We promised then that we?d catch up with him again, and this month we?re doing just that. Podcast producer Mark Cotton sat down with Dr David Abrutat, the recently avowed Departmental Historian at GCHQ, to find out about his life, his service and what he has planned for his ?dream job?.    Image: ©GCHQ   #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #GCHQ,

September 2020    This is the last of three special episodes to mark what would have been our Annual Veterans Reunion.    It was due to COVID-19 restrictions and with huge regret that Bletchley Park Trust had to take the difficult decision not to hold this year?s reunion on-site. But here at the podcast we can still celebrate our Veterans with these special episodes.   At a reunion we like to capture as many Veterans stories as we can, but we also always remember that it is their special day and we try not to interrupt it too much for them. Some chats may just be a quick hello and how are you and some might end up with a short interview. But for some Veterans, it might be the first time they have been asked to talk about their vital war work and we are always honoured to be on hand to save their story for future generations.    In this, the last of these special episodes, we?re bringing you nearly 80 minutes from another 12 of our amazing Veterans, including a few of those longer interviews.   Featured in this episode, in order of appearance are:   Doris Moss Mollie Brewster Pamela Forbes Betty Webb Elizabeth Davies Marigold Angela Bostock-Wilson Diana Tyler Margaret Thomas Bartrum Robinson Edna Garbutt Pauline Lee Tom Howie   We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Veterans of Bletchley Park and its Outstations, for their service.   Special thanks to Katherine Lynch, Sarah Langston and Kerry Howard.    Image: ©Will Amlot for the Bletchley Park Trust 2020   #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

September 2020    As we explained in the last show, due to COVID-19 restrictions and with huge regret, Bletchley Park Trust had to take the difficult decision not to host our Annual Veterans Reunion onsite this year.   To continue to mark what would have been this year?s reunion, this is the second of three special episodes we will be bringing you this month, to still pay tribute to our Veterans.   Reunion is always the busiest day of the year for the podcast, catching up with old friends & rushing around trying to make sure that we can record as many Veterans as we can but it hasn?t just been our original co-host Katherine Lynch and producer Mark Cotton. We have also had help from a group of people we like to call our roving reporters. They are friends of the podcast who kindly give their time to help us allow the Veterans?, to tell their stories, in their own voices.    We want to thank everyone who has helped us at each reunion since 2012 but especially those featured in this episode, Sarah Langston, Kerry Howard, Astrid Specht, Helen Legh and of course Katherine Lynch.   The Veterans featured in this episode, in order of appearance are:   Flo Cole Cicely Anderson Mimi Gallilee Kay Wingate Nancy Clark Geoffrey Pidgeon Pat Davies Christine Brose Joan Smeaton Mary Heal Eric Dodd   We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Veterans of Bletchley Park and its Outstations, for their service.   Image: ©Will Amlot for the Bletchley Park Trust 2020   #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

September 2020 
Each year, to mark the arrival of the Codebreakers to their war station in 1939, we hold our Veterans Reunion. 
This is the highlight of our calendar year, and a really special occasion for all involved. Veterans can meet up with friends old and new and share stories of their vital and once top-secret wartime work. These events have taken on even more meaning in the past few years, for the Veterans, their families, and all those who work for Bletchley Park Trust today.
It is with huge regret that, due to COVID-19 restrictions, Bletchley Park Trust has taken the difficult decision not to host our Reunion onsite this year.
To mark what would have been this year?s reunion, this is the first of three special episodes we will be bringing you this month, not just the highlights of the last 8 years that the Podcast has attended but also from the very first Reunion in 1991, the one that started the campaign to Save Bletchley Park.
The Veterans featured in this episode, in order of appearance are:
Joan Clarke
Derek Taunt
Raymond Goodman
Rosamond Twinn
Rosemary Davidson
Peter Twinn
Rolf Noskwith
Betty Webb
Mary Watkins
Joyce Bigoni
Stanley Clegg
Eric Hume
Jeff Hoare
Fred Terretta
Audrey Hodges
Jane Fawcett

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Veterans of Bletchley Park and its Outstations, for their service.
Special thanks to Katherine Lynch, Sarah Langston and Mr Ben Thomson.  
Image: ©Will Amlot for the Bletchley Park Trust 2020
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,

August 2020
Nearly 3 months after VE Day, the war against Japan still continued. Its end would be drawn out over 6 weeks between the Potsdam Declaration in July and the final signing of the surrender on-board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September the 2nd. 
During those weeks the world saw the use of a new weapon, the atom bomb and both Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be totally destroyed before World War Two would finally come to an end.
To commemorate VJ Day we present this special It Happened Here episode. Using archive recordings, a recreation of the memoir of Eric Norris and interviews with our Veterans from both our official Oral History Project and 8 years of podcasts, we hope to take you back to those momentous weeks in 1945.
10 of our Veterans will share their memories, both happy and sometimes poignant, of the beginning of the Atomic Age, the end of the war, VJ Day and looking forward to the rest of their lives. Featured in order of appearance are:
Sheila Willson
Dennis Gilley
Dr Michael Loewe
Lady Marion Body
Joyce Bogoni
Joan Smeaton
Dennis Underwood
Betty Webb
Gwendoline Page
Margaret Thomas
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: Wrens in London on VJ Day. With grateful thanks to Mrs Joan Smeaton.
#BPark, #WW2, #BletchleyPark, #BletchleyParkVJDay75, #VJDay75