The Lost World of Bletchley Park Read online

  When the popular BBC TV series Antiques Roadshow filmed editions at Bletchley, it helped bring more visitors to the museum. The Park stages many special events, from vintage car rallies to TV specials.

  Interest goes beyond the news. A few years back, the popular BBC Sunday night staple Antiques Roadshow filmed two editions in the grounds of the house. This made a perfect fit alongside other recent huge attractions to the estate: vintage car shows and 1940s family festivals, featuring dances and music from the period. (There were also notable Roadshow unexpected treasure stories, including a glass vase that had been bought for £1 valued at £36,000.) This is to say nothing of a cavalcade of documentaries either about Bletchley directly or about the people who worked there. For a house that twice faced demolition, it is now becoming as recognisable to a wider public as Highclere Castle or Strawberry Hill.

  A few years ago, in 2009, when it was decided that Bletchley Park veterans should each receive a commemorative medal for the work that they did there, the cause was taken up eagerly by the then Labour Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who spent hours at the Park, chatting to veterans and to members of the Trust. One veteran recalls that – even though she has been a life-long Tory voter – Mr Miliband had such good manners and such a lively interest in the Park and all who had been there that she declared she would have happily voted for him. His Tory successor at the Foreign Office, William Hague, has also visited the Park. Elsewhere, in 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a posthumous apology to Alan Turing for the appalling treatment he had received after the war. In welcoming this, the Bletchley Park Trust hammered home the point that by helping to preserve the Park, the importance of Alan Turing’s achievements would receive their rightful celebration.

  007 actor Sir Roger Moore on a visit to the Park in 2008, bringing with him an array of James Bond’s favourite cars.

  There have been pleasantly unexpected bursts of publicity from the glitzier end of show business too; such as the occasion, in 2012, when the television reality show MasterChef broadcast a special celebrity edition from Bletchley Park. The celebrities, including Emma Kennedy, rather appropriately had to prepare dishes for judges such as Sir Arthur Bonsall, veteran codebreaker and also a former Director of GCHQ. Throughout, the veterans were invited to compare the complicated dishes with the fare that they had enjoyed – or emphatically not enjoyed – in the Park’s wartime canteen.

  Codebreaking veteran Sir Arthur Bonsall, standing before the impressive Bletchley memorial designed by Charles Gurrey, unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen in 2011.

  Another entertaining guest visit came from Sir Roger Moore, the former James Bond actor. There were several pleasing echoes here: 007’s creator, Ian Fleming, had himself been in Naval Intelligence during the war, and as such had frequent dealings with Bletchley Park and the codebreaking operation. But while Fleming had the necessary security clearance to visit, it is unlikely that his fictional creation Bond would have been granted it. The Park’s work was very strictly ‘need to know’ and the vast majority of agents were not let in on it. Sir Roger himself revelled in his visit, and got to meet veterans such as Mavis and Keith Batey. It is a measure of the power of the Bletchley story that even a film star cannot grab all the limelight here. Nor indeed would he have wanted to.

  Veterans Sheila and Oliver Lawn – who have often been asked by newspapers and TV organisations for help with unsolved codes, ancient and modern.

  It is no exaggeration, though, to say that one special visit that has meant everything to surviving veterans was that paid by Her Majesty the Queen in 2012. The event was kept every bit as close a secret as the original code-work itself; veterans who were tipped the wink in advance, in order to get ready, admirably proved once more their ability not to say a word to a soul. The Queen arrived with the Duke of Edinburgh and, despite the numbers of proud veterans lined up to meet them, there was still time for spirited exchanges. One veteran recalls how the Queen showed great interest in how the wartime work remained confidential – and in the unspoken assumption of duty that went with that. The Queen and Prince Philip were also given the expert guided tour to the bombe and Colossus reconstructions. It is always startling to remember that Queen Elizabeth – then Princess Elizabeth – was an ATS girl, a truck mechanic, when this technology was coming into play. Possibly another reason why her visit had such an enormous impact upon Bletchley veterans was that they recognised that she too was a veteran – albeit from another side of the war effort. The wider point is that the visit bestowed an even greater sense that the Bletchley Park estate is now an ineradicable feature of the historical landscape; almost the equivalent of a Royal Warrant. Nor has interest from the royal family diminished at all. Not long ago, the Prince of Wales hosted a charitable fund-raising dinner at St James’s Palace, at which veteran Jean Valentine spoke; so entertaining was she that the Prince was seen wiping tears of laughter away. Even more recently, the Duchess of Cornwall has visited the Park, as part of an effort to raise recognition of the pivotal role of women throughout the war.

  HRH Princess Elizabeth hard at work as an ATS volunteer during the war at around the time that the Tunny codes were being broken.

  Veterans and their families gather together in the courtyard on the day of the Royal visit – the first time Her Majesty had been there.

  During the course of their tour, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh met former Bletchley CEO Simon Greenish MBE (BELOW, STANDING FAR LEFT), codebreaker Jerry Roberts MBE (TOP) and veteran Jean Valentine (RIGHT).

  Veteran Ruth Bourne was on hand to guide the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh through the fiendish complexities of the Enigma machine.

  There has also been a terrific amount of interest – and indeed support – from the American internet search engine giant Google. It was with their help that Bletchley Park was able to acquire and save Alan Turing’s papers; they are now on display in the Park’s museum. With Google has come a range of VIP visits, some still top secret: a guest on one occasion was an American actor who – it is fair to say – has one of the most recognisable voices in the entire world. Unfortunately, the Bletchley Park Trust’s own official secrets act forbids me from saying anything more! Elsewhere, Google has taken a close interest in the work of Dr Tommy Flowers and recently produced a film paying tribute to his role in kicking off what we might term the Google age. Naturally the executives of other global computing concerns – Microsoft and Apple – have also taken an assiduous interest in the Park, and the museum. It is said that in Silicon Valley, an entire young generation of software specialists revere Alan Turing and Max Newman as the colossi of their field.

  Codebreakers Keith and Mavis Batey prepare to demonstrate Enigma for HRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

  Prince Charles unveils a commemorative tablet and, on a later occasion, the Duchess attends a special event at the Park commemorating the role of women during the war.

  Bletchley Park supporter Stephen Fry is fascinated by Tony Sale’s intricate rebuild of the Colossus machine.

  This is all having said nothing of Bletchley’s visitors, who are arriving in ever greater numbers year by year. It is estimated currently that nearly 200,000 people go through those Park gates annually. To this end, the Park is currently making some dramatic changes to accommodate these growing numbers; as well as the streamlined lay-out of the block exhibitions, there is now extensive renovation work being carried out, both on huts and on the blocks. There is still so much to exhibit, so much for the visitor to see. The result of this is that – by contrast with the ghostly, quiet, abandoned site of twenty years ago – Bletchley on a daily basis now teems with as many people as it did during those war years. As well as the painstaking hut reconstructions, and the work carried out upon the interior of the house (which architectural historians are now beginning to look upon a little more fondly), there are ever more tours, conducted by ever more volunteers, who have been given the most stringent training; almost as stringent as that recei
ved by the Wrens being sent to operate the Colossus machines. The Park is teeming with life; and while the lifeline of the Lottery Heritage Fund might mean that some aspects of it seem to become a little sleeker and better organised, this too is in keeping with the way that the working methods of the Park changed mid-war – from the genteel chaos of Alastair Denniston to the well-oiled routines of his deputy, Commander Travis.

  A perennially popular event at Bletchley Park is its special 1940s day – featuring vintage clothes, memorabilia, and terrific music.

  And the arrangement with Google has also helped to cement further Bletchley’s financial future. So while on the one hand the royal visits and the endorsements from cabinet ministers and other dignitaries have enshrined the Park’s status as part of the historical establishment, this interest from global giants is an indicator of the debt they feel they owe to the breakthroughs that were made here. It is impossible to think of any other institution that can count both Her Majesty the Queen and Californian computer whizz-kids as ardent admirers.

  And this emergence from the darkness, this belated celebration, commemorated with a special statue near the entrance to the Park, has been terrifically important to the surviving veterans. Over the last twenty years, the regeneration of Bletchley Park finally gave them a focal point for memories, and a chance to reunite; those simple things denied them all those previous decades ago. For those annual reunion weekends, veterans travel from all over the country, and revel in the special talks and events and meals. The melancholy and inescapable fact is that numbers are dwindling year by year. But thanks to the Bletchley Park Trust, the estate has grown into something far greater than a shrine or a monument: the fascinating museum and displays – and still-growing archive – are there for coming generations to learn how the power of lateral thinking and ingenuity, wedded with mathematical brilliance, an adventurous spirit of engineering, and inexhaustible optimism and energy in the face of a seemingly impossible challenge, helped bring about what essayist George Steiner termed ‘one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century’.

  Loving attention to detail is a key feature of Bletchley Park – even down to the beautifully designed museum season tickets.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First of all, with huge gratitude to the indefatigable Kelsey Griffin, Bletchley Park’s Director of Museum Operations, who not only opened up a treasure trove of rare pictures but was also extremely generous with her time; Iain Standen, Bletchley Park’s CEO, who has been passed the baton and is masterminding the coming stages of Bletchley’s full glorious regeneration; Sue May for endless patience; plus Bletchley Park’s team of dedicated archivists and even more dedicated volunteers, without whom the Park would really not be the same. Thanks to Ian Allen for excellent editing and to managing editor Melissa Smith for the formidable job of pulling the entire thing together, with a sharp eye and good humour. And not least thanks to publishing director at Aurum, Graham Coster, whose idea this was in the first place.

  PICTURE CREDITS

  The images included in this book are courtesy and by permission of the following archives, collections and libraries:

  Alamy: 120–1, 124 (bottom), 134, 139 (bottom); Bedfordshire & Luton Archives Service: 56–7; Bletchley Park Trust (with some contemporary photos ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com): Right Endpaper, 2–3, 4 (all bar the Enigma decrypt), 6, 10, 12, 13, 14–15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24–5, 26–7, 28, 29, 34, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 66, 70, 81, 84, 86, 87, 88–9, 90, 92 (top), 93, 94, 95, 101 (top left), 102, 103, 106, 140 (top right), 156–7, 158–9, 160, 164, 166–7, 171, 172, 174, 175, 177, 178–9, 180, 182, 183, 184, 185 (bottom), 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191; British Chess Magazine: 8 (right), 150; The Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies: 11 (courtesy of Dorothy Amelia Brown), 19, 65 and 91 (courtesy of Dorothy Amelia Brown); Chris Arnot: 176 (top); City of Westminster Archives Centre: 8 (left); Corbis: 130; Crown Copyright, reproduced by permission Director GCHQ:9, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37 (bottom), 38, 39, 42, 43, 44–5, 68–9, 73, 126 (right), 145, 162 (top), 163 (top); © English Heritage: Left Endpaper, 117; © English Heritage (Aerofilms Collection): 30–1, 96–7, 101 (bottom); Getty Images: 61, 98, 107 (bottom), 122, 124 (top), 129, 130 (left), 132–3, 136, 138 (right), 142 (top), 146–7, 152, 185 (top); IBM Archives: 76; Imperial War Museum: 101 (top right, V151), 108–9 (IND4817), 110 (top, A24959; bottom, A10029), 112 (right, LD5765), 113 (GM1430), 118 (top, A24959; middle, A14494; bottom, A21428), 137 (A12017), 138 (left, PST7268), 139 (top, A21715), 143 (E30918); King’s College Archives, Cambridge: 52; By permission of Living Archive: 100, 104–5, 107 (top), 163 (bottom); Supplied by the Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/National Library of Wales: 128; Mary Evans: 60; The National Archives UK: 40, 41, 92 (bottom), 142 (bottom), 144, 148; National Archives, College Park, MD, USA: 131; © National Museums Scotland: 140 (top left and bottom); Peter Budd: 114 (top), 116 (top and bottom left); Philip Nixon © Copyright National Memorial Arboretum, 2012: 119 (bottom); Press Association Images: 58, 64, 119 (top), 173 (bottom); Ray Fautley: 115 (right), 116 (bottom right); Reproduced by kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Bedford and the Trustees of the Bedford Estates: 62; Rex Features: 72 (Andy Lauwers), 125 (Associated Newspapers), 141 (Roger-Viollet), 168–9 (Sonny Meddle), 170 (Sonny Meddle), 173 (top, Everett Collection), 176 (bottom, Andy Lauwers); School of Computer Science, The University of Manchester: 155; Senior Common Room, Christ Church, Oxford: 151 (left); Teri Pengilley © The Independent: 154; TopFoto: 60 (bottom left), 63, 82–3 (The Granger Collection), 127; U.S. Air Force photo courtesy of Dr David Hamer: 4 (Engima decript)

  First published in Great Britain 2013 by Aurum Press Ltd 74–77 White Lion Street London N1 9PF

  www.aurumpress.co.uk

  This eBook edition first published in 2013

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © Sinclair McKay 2013

  Sinclair McKay has asserted his moral right to be identified as the Author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of material quoted in this book. If application is made in writing to the publisher, any omissions will be included in future editions.

  ISBN 978 1 78131 279 7