Bletchley Park

October 2014 This month we come to you from the red carpet at The Odeon Leicester Square for the premiere of THE IMITATION GAME. The movie based on the life and work of Codebreaker Alan Turing was picked to open the prestigious 2014 BFI London Film Festival. To celebrate the film’s release in UK cinemas on the 14th of November, Bletchley Park will open a major new exhibition, taking visitors behin...

October 2014 To celebrate the release of THE IMITATION GAME in UK cinemas on 14 November, Bletchley Park will open a major new exhibition, taking visitors behind the scenes of the highly anticipated movie. The exhibition will open on Tuesday 4 November with an exclusive preview screening of the film for a select audience at Bletchley Park. The same evening, this vibrant heritage attraction will pr...

September 2014 In this final highlight from last year’s sell-out day of talks, Codebreakers’ Legacy, Dr. Joel Greenberg talks about the vitally important work of another lesser known figure from GC&CS, Gordon Welchman. Welchman designed changes to Alan Turing’s Bombe Machine which was used throughout the war to find the daily settings for Enigma. He also drew up the organisational plan for Ble...

September 2014 As part of our annual Veteran’s Reunion this year there was a fly past by a Hurricane of the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. 14,533 Hurricanes had been built by the end of World War 2, but sadly, today, there are only 12 still airworthy worldwide; only 6 of those in UK. The BBMF is proud to operate two of these historically important and rare aircraft. For more information...

September 2014 This month we bring you a special episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, from the Annual Veterans' Reunion. 2014 is a landmark year for Bletchley Park, marking not only 75th anniversary of the Government Code and Cypher School getting its vital war work underway, but also the completion of £8 million worth of much-needed restoration, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. At this y...

September 2014 As well as marking the 75th anniversary of the Government Code and Cypher School getting its vital war work underway, this year’s annual Veterans’ Reunion will give many their first chance to see how Bletchley Park has been transformed. 2014 is a landmark year for the Bletchley Park Trust, marking not only 75 years since the Codebreakers got cracking on the task of breaking enemy co...

September 2014 Professor Jack Copeland talks about ‘one of his greatest heroes’ Tommy Flowers, from his early life & career leading to working with the Bletchley Park Codebreakers. Jack explains the task faced when in mid-1942 the German High Command started to use a new encryption device, the Lorenz SZ40/42. The attack on Tunny, as it was dubbed by GC&CS, would involve some of the greates...

August 2014 In July, as part of the Bletchley Park Presents series of talks, four women whose diverse roles within the Government Code & Cypher School during World War Two give a rare insight into the inner workings of this top secret organisation. One of those women was WREN Gwendoline Page who worked first in the Naval Section at Bletchley Park, indexing U-boat signals & later on the Jap...

August 2014 This month’s episode is all about Inspiring Women. We first take you to the launch of McAfee’s Cyber Security Exhibition and Computer Learning Zone which was held in the ballroom. The focus is on Online Safety for all ages, but especially children, as well as encouraging more women to Cyber Security. We have highlights of the speeches from McAffee’s Ross Allen & Raj Samani, Natalie...

August 2014 As the centenary of World War One is marked, Bletchley Park looks back at the early intelligence career of one of its lesser-known geniuses. In this extract, recorded at the Codebreaker’s Legacy Talks in November 2013, bestselling author and Bletchley Park Trustee Michael Smith charts the World War One service of John Tiltman, Bletchley Park's Chief Cryptographer, who was awarded the M...

July 2014 On 26 and 27 July 1939 one of the most important events in the history of intelligence took place in the woods outside Warsaw. Just three weeks before the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) moved to its War Station at Bletchley Park, its Head, Alastair Denniston, and its Chief Cryptanalyst, Dilly Knox, travelled to Warsaw to meet their Polish and French equivalents to share al...

July 2014 HRH The Duchess of Cambridge visited Bletchley Park on the 18th of June to mark the officially opening of the 8.5 million pound restorations, but she also had a much more personal reason for her visit as both her paternal grandmother & great aunt worked in Hut 16 at The Government Codes and Cipher School during World War 2. Lady Marion Body worked alongside the twins, Valerie and Mar...

July 2014 This month we take you behind the scenes during HRH The Duchess of Cambridge’s visit on 18 June, meeting the Veteran who worked with her grandmother and some of those involved in the transformation of Bletchley Park. Valerie Glassborow, The Duchess of Cambridge’s paternal grandmother, worked as a Foreign Office Civilian, towards the end of the war, alongside her twin sister, Mary, in Hut...

July 2014 This September, Bletchley Park Presents Guy Burt and Sarah Harding, the creative partnership which brought us the second series of the hit ITV drama, The Bletchley Circle. As part of the prestigious Bletchley Park Presents lecture series, Guy will tell the story behind this ripping yarn, exploring how he created the strong female characters and why he based their lasting bond at Bletchle...

June 2014 McAfee, part of Intel Security, today announced the official opening of its international Cyber Security Exhibition and Computer Learning Zone at Bletchley Park, as part of its five-year collaborative partnership with the home of the World War Two Codebreakers. Sir John Scarlett gave a speech on the impact and importance of Bletchley Park, online safety and the role of women in Cyber Sec...

June 2014 On Wednesday 18 June, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge visited Bletchley Park to mark completion of the eight million pound, Heritage Lottery Fund supported restoration project. This uniquely historic site has been restored to its wartime glory, enabling visitors to experience what it was like for the Codebreakers who worked here and creating a permanent and fitting tribute to...

June 2014 The transformation of Bletchley Park is now complete & on the 18th of June, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge will visit to launch the completed restoration. In this month’s episode we take you inside Code breaking Huts 3 and 6 & the new Block C Visitor Centre with the first people to see them restored to their wartime glory; the Veterans themselves. We join RAF Veteran Sergeant Berna...

June 2014 The importance of Bletchley Park’s role in the D-Day deception should not be underestimated. Messages decrypted at Bletchley Park showed that the feint had been swallowed whole, leading Germany to believe that the invasion would be at the Pas de Calais rather than Normandy. Katherine Lynch talked to Bletchley Park’s Senior Archivist, Richard Lewis, and historian and founding member of th...

May 2014 The Duchess of Cambridge will visit Bletchley Park, on Wednesday 18 June 2014 to mark the completion of the year-long restoration project, which has restored the site to its World War Two appearance. Her Royal Highness will view the restored location, tour the WW2 Codebreaking Huts and will hear about the achievements of the Codebreakers whose work is said to have helped shorten the war b...

May 2014 Bestselling author & Bletchley Park Trustee, Michael Smith discusses the life & work of John Tiltman, whom many consider may have been Britain’s greatest ever code breaker. For these highlights we have concentrated on the lesser known parts of Tiltman’s life, both before & after his time at Bletchley Park. This talk was recorded at last year’s sell-out day of talks, Codebreake...

May 2014 Bletchley Park CEO Iain Standen has told a new support hub for businesses how focusing on the fascinating story of World War Two Codebreaking helped transform Bletchley Park from a ramshackle, derelict site into a vibrant heritage attraction. Velocity, a new growth hub for ambitious small and medium-sized enterprises across the South East Midlands, was launched in the newly-restored Block...

May 2014 When Elizabeth Marshall, nee Tatham, was recruited to Bletchley Park in 1944, she was told “This is a very, very secret place. You must never breathe a word of what you do here.” Every one of the ten thousand or so men and women who worked for the Government Code and Cypher School, a mixture of military and civilians, was sworn to lifelong secrecy. During a visit to Bletchley Park, Elizab...

May 2014 The Loebner Prize is making Bletchley Park its permanent home. The competition is modelled on Alan Turing’s famous test, which suggests that a thinking computer’s responses would, in conversation, be able to convince a panel of judges that it is human. The Loebner Prize was founded and is sponsored by Dr Hugh Loebner, a New York philanthropist. He says “The competition is the longest runn...

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...

May 2014 As the 70th anniversary of D-Day approaches, original Bletchley Park Trust member & Historian Peter Westcombe, compares the meticulous planning which preceded the Normandy landings with the doomed German plot to invade Britain much earlier in World War Two, Operation SEALION. You can hear more of this interview with Peter in the next episode of the Bletchley Park Podcast, out on the 1...