Showing results by narrator "Betty Webb" in All Categories

Born one hundred years ago, Betty Webb MBE, LOH (Legion of Honour) has had a ringside seat to history. After graduating from school, she faced the usual limited opportunities for employment on offer to women at the time. However, with the war in full swing, fate intervened and in 1941, wanting to play her part in the war effort, Betty joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (Women’s Army). After being interviewed by an intelligence officer, she found herself at Euston station with her kit-bag, a travel warrant in her pocket and instructions to get off the train at Bletchley Park.

The scene of unrelenting human ingenuity during World War Two, while the story of the decipherment of the Enigma codes and Alan Turing is celebrated in the movie the Imitation Game, less well known is what life was actually like for the thousands of women and men who worked at Bletchley Park under clandestine conditions. With access to Bletchley Park and contributions from historians and scientists Maggie Lee meets two remarkable people who worked at Station X, learning how the top secret work carried out here helped usher in the computer age and deepen the foundations of the UK's cyber and intelligence centre.