Episodios

  • E189 - Dilly and his Girls

    E189 - Dilly and his Girls
    Mar 27 2026

    March 2026

    The 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 significant victory for the Allies and cast a shadow over the Italian navy, making them reluctant to challenge British superiority at sea in the Mediterranean for the remainder of the war.

    In part, the battle came about due to knowledge of Italian operations derived from codebreaking at Bletchley Park, and it is one of the few successes by BP in that theatre of war which is widely recognised.

    In this episode Head of Audiences and Programmes Vicki Pipe is joined by Research Historian Dr David Kenyon to go beyond the popular mythology of this event to look in more detail of what exactly GC&CS knew, and when.

    Our thanks go to Dr Ben Thompson for voicing our historical documents.

    Image: Public Domain https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C28674

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Italy,
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    59 m
  • E188 - Focus On: Emily Anderson

    E188 - Focus On: Emily Anderson
    Feb 27 2026

    February 2026

    Even amongst the distinguished ranks of WW2 codebreakers, Emily Anderson stood out. Recruited into military intelligence during WWI, her stellar career in diplomatic codebreaking lasted into the 1950s. Her greatest achievement came with the breaking of high-level Italian ciphers during the East African Campaign of 1940-41. It was called 'the perfect example of the cryptographers' war' and earned her the OBE in 1943.

    Anderson was also a renowned musicologist - her translations of the letters of Mozart and Beethoven are still considered authoritative. Yet until recent years, her life and intelligence work remained under the radar.

    This episode helps to set the record straight, and kick off a new occasional series focusing on key personalities in codebreaking and intelligence. Bletchley Park's Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham is joined by Jackie Uí Chionna from the University of Galway to discuss the subject of her 2023 biography Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain's Greatest Female Codebreaker.

    Our thanks go to Sarah Langston for voicing our historical documents.

    The Marriage of Figaro - K. 492 CC PDM 1.0 www.classicals.de

    Image: © Dr. Dagmar von Busch-Weise

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Italy, #Galway
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    1 h y 3 m
  • E187 - Codebooks, Diplomats and Diamonds

    E187 - Codebooks, Diplomats and Diamonds
    Jan 23 2026

    January 2026

    Rome: 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’.

    With the road to World War Two still ahead, it was a time of significant geo-political tension. The Italian government was learning the secrets of countries such as Britain and France in order to gain an advantage in international affairs. This would continue after Italy joined the war in 1940, with substantial consequences for the campaign in North Africa.

    In this episode, we will hear how the Italians didn’t succeed by using mathematicians or intellectuals, but with a rather more direct approach. David Kenyon, Bletchley Park’s Research Historian, joins podcast producer Mark Cotton to reveal more.

    Our thanks go to Dr Ben Thompson for voicing our historical documents.

    Image: ©UK in Italy “Old British embassy with flag” CC BY-ND 2.0

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Italy,
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    54 m
  • E186 - Top Secret Misinformation - Part 5

    E186 - Top Secret Misinformation - Part 5
    Dec 19 2025
    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 of questions! Questions sent in by our listeners, gifted to us through the medium of social media.

    A selection of these holiday treats, where we bust myths and reveal hidden histories, has been made by Team Podcast who are all present and correct for this episode. Who are Team Podcast? Erica Munro (Head of Content), Dr David Kenyon (Research Historian), Dr Thomas Cheetham (Research Officer) and podcast producer Mark Cotton.

    We have six of our listeners' finest questions to share with you - we will do five of these as a usual Q&A, but look out for the sixth question - relating to pets - as we intersperse our interview with simian Siginters' sidekicks, and canine Codebreakers' companions.

    Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2025.
    Photograph of Corporal Dionne, a dog, on watch at Gorleston.

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Q&A,
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    52 m
  • E185 - Reaping the Whirlwind

    E185 - Reaping the Whirlwind
    Nov 21 2025
    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's ability and will to continue the war. It also represented a way for Britain and the USA to support the Soviet Union before the D-Day invasion. The whole campaign was guided by intelligence, to identify the right targets, determine how badly they were damaged, and assess the effects on the German war effort.

    This huge undertaking taxed Allied intelligence capabilities to their limits. It has since become one of the many contended issues in the debates around this costly and controversial campaign.

    In this 'It Happened Here' episode, we are joined by Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham to explain the ways Signals Intelligence from Bletchley Park did - and didn't - guide Allied bombing strategy.

    Our thanks go to Owen Moogan and Sarah Langston for voicing our historical documents.

    Image: © National Museum of the US Air Force (Public Domain)

    This episode is a follow up to episodes E170 & E171.

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #BomberCommand, #USAAF,
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    1 h
  • E184 - The SIS at BP

    E184 - The SIS at BP
    Oct 24 2025
    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 Service, known as SIS or MI6. The Chief of SIS was also the Director of GC&CS.

    In this episode, we explore the relationship between the two organisations, the part that SIS played in supporting GC&CS, and the ongoing presence of SIS at Bletchley Park itself. Head of Content, Erica Munro, is joined by our Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon, and by a special guest - historian and expert on the wartime history of SIS, Dr Claire Hubbard-Hall.

    To see the objects we discuss in this episode, visit https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/our-story/e184-the-sis-at-bletchley-park/

    Claire’s book ‘Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence’ is available from all good bookshops.

    Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2025

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #MI6, #SIS, #SecretService,
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    1 h y 1 m
  • E183 - 'Ladies & gentlemen, go your ways!'

    E183 - 'Ladies & gentlemen, go your ways!'
    Sep 25 2025
    September 2025

    In 1945, Britain celebrated VE Day in May and VJ Day in August, as the war - first in Europe and then the Far East - came to an end. For the staff of GC&CS and its larger worldwide network, this meant that the vital and exhausting work they'd been doing suddenly stopped. The lives of all of them had been changed forever, but each person's experience was different.

    Bletchley Park's Oral History archive is a treasure trove of Veterans' testimonies. In this It Happened Here episode, we will be digging into our sound archive to focus on how the workers reacted and what happened to them once peace was declared, in their own words. Our guide through these stories is Bletchley Park’s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon.

    This episode features the following Veterans’.

    Nora Copleston
    Miriam Myland
    Mary Kenyon
    Ron Unwin
    Betty Lawrie
    John Statham
    Betty Flavell
    Fay Gold
    Joan Smeaton
    Gwen Page
    Dot Tuffin
    Kenneth Nicholson
    John Moseley
    Jimmy Thirsk
    Rena Stewart
    Mary Every
    Daphne Canning
    Betty Webb
    Lady Marion Body
    Margaret Thomas

    Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2025

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #VEDay80, #VJDay80,
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    1 h y 2 m
  • E182 - "… and Peace at Last"

    E182 - "… and Peace at Last"
    Aug 22 2025
    August 2025

    On 15 August 2025 the UK commemorated the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, the day on which the surrender of Japan and the end of World War Two was announced.

    This was a significant moment at Bletchley Park as it meant the end of almost six years of non-stop codebreaking and intelligence work.

    For many it also brought an abrupt halt to years of training to learn Japanese and long journeys to reach postings in India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere in preparation for the upcoming invasion of Japan itself.

    In this ‘It Happened Here’ episode we are joined by Bletchley Park’s historians Dr Tom Cheetham and Dr David Kenyon to discuss how the Japanese war ended and the part played by Bletchley Park and signals intelligence.

    Our thanks go to Owen Moogan and Dr Ben Thompson for voicing our historical documents.

    Image: Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri. Public Domain, United States Navy.

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #VJDay80,
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    1 h y 3 m