Bletchley Park10 Maj 2014

E22 - A Very, Very Secret Place

May 2014

This month, we learn about the doomed German plans to invade Britain in 1940 with Historian & founding member of the Bletchley Park Trust, Peter Wescombe as we join him in the Bletchley Park Archive.

We also take you to the launch of the biography of one of Bletchley Park’s lesser known geniuses, Gordon Welchman. Joel Greenberg has been reading up on & researching Bletchley Park’s World War Two history since the 1970s. He is a Volunteer Tour Guide & works part time at Bletchley Park. His book, Gordon Welchman, Bletchley Park’s Architect of Ultra Intelligence, was launched in the Mansion in the presence of Welchman’s family, who formally handed over artefacts and documents, some of which had been in boxes in his son Nick’s loft for 25 years before Joel started his research.

Get a taste of what’s to come at the Bletchley Park Presents series of Sunday afternoon talks & hear from three of the real women of Bletchley Park, Jean Valentine, Ruth Bourne & Betty Webb in a short interview with Bremont Watches founder Giles English.

Finally we bring you a Wren’s memories of the absolute secrecy impressed upon her when she arrived. Elizabeth Marshall, nee Tatham, who lives in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, recalls “We were told your family and your friends must not know.’ We sat there absolutely agog, wondering what we had let ourselves in for.”

Picture ©Bletchley Park Trust

#BPark, #BletchleyPark, #Enigma, #ww2veteran, #Bremont, #mcfontaine

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(292)

E191 - Music at Bletchley Park

May 2026Against the backdrop of war and secrecy, the Codebreakers of Bletchley Park were often able to enjoy comfort in music. From choirs to orchestras, gramophone evenings to opera, music appears ag...

29 Maj 58min

E190 - Focus On: Josh Cooper

April 2026Thriving in the world of wartime codebreaking took more than just smarts and skill.Tact, diplomacy and organisational talent were needed to achieve results and navigate the fractious politic...

24 Apr 53min

E189 - Dilly and his Girls

March 2026The 28th of March 2026 will be the 85th anniversary of the naval Battle of Cape Matapan, fought by the Royal Navy against the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean. The battle was a significan...

27 Mars 59min

E188 - Focus On: Emily Anderson

February 2026Even amongst the distinguished ranks of WW2 codebreakers, Emily Anderson stood out. Recruited into military intelligence during WWI, her stellar career in diplomatic codebreaking lasted i...

27 Feb 1h 3min

E187 - Codebooks, Diplomats and Diamonds

January 2026Rome: the 1930s, and the Italian secret services were having extraordinary success in reading the messages sent by rival countries’ diplomats from their embassies in the ‘Eternal City’. Wi...

23 Jan 54min

E186 - Top Secret Misinformation - Part 5

December 2025 This is the fifth instalment of our annual episode where we celebrate the oncoming festivities of the snowy season - religious or secular - with a surfeit not of turkey and roasties but...

19 Dec 202552min

E185 - Reaping the Whirlwind

November 2025 During the second half of World War 2, the Allied air forces launched a large-scale heavy bomber offensive against German cities and war industries. This was designed to damage Germany'...

21 Nov 202559min

E184 - The SIS at BP

October 2025 Today GCHQ is an independent British intelligence organisation. However during World War 2, GC&CS, as it was then called, continued to be subordinate to the British Secret Intelligence S...

24 Okt 20251h