Bletchley Park

July 2026
Lord Asa Briggs – the Keighley-born historian of the Victorian age and of broadcasting, served most prominently as vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex and later Chancellor of the Open University. He was one of Britain’s most influential public intellectuals of the 20th Century. Less well known, however, is the formative period he spent at Bletchley Park between 1943 and 1945.
Arriving somewhat after the time of pioneering codebreaking, Asa found a mature Hut 6 working efficiently and at scale. His insights into the work, as well as the social life at Bletchley Park, documented through contemporary diaries and letters as well as later writing, reveal much about the experience of the rank and file codebreakers in the Bletchley Park ‘intelligence factory’.
Bletchley Park’s Research Officer, Dr Thomas Cheetham, is joined by Adam Sisman, author of ‘The Indefatigable Asa Briggs’, to focus on the life of this era-defining figure.
This episode is interspersed with an interview we recorded with Lord Briggs on one of his last visits to Bletchley Park.
©Bletchley Park Trust 2026
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Codebreaker,

June 2026
The story of the vital contribution of Polish codebreakers to the cracking of Enigma before World War Two is well known, but what happened to those codebreakers after the invasion of Poland in 1939?
In this episode we follow the long and winding path of the Polish cryptanalysts from Warsaw to London. We also look more widely at the work done by the Polish Government in Exile in the UK to intercept wireless traffic and collaborate with Bletchley Park on signals intelligence.
Head of Content, Erica Munro, is joined by our Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon.
Our thanks go to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our historical documents.
For the interview we mentioned with Ferdynand Vanke, go to http://www.youtube.com/@csenigma1091 
Image courtesy of Bletchley Park Trust
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Polish, #Poland, #Codebreaker,

May 2026
Against 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 again and again as a recurring motif in the social lives of those working at the Government Code & Cypher School. This episode delves into several different aspects of a topic that we are often asked about, but which frequently gets overshadowed by the showier activities of the BP Drama Group.
Head of Content Erica Munro and Head of Audiences and Programmes Vicki Pipe will discuss some very special musical material from Bletchley Park Trust's archive. Hear from researcher and musician Crispin Lewis about his famous BP relative, composer Herbert Murrill. We are also joined by Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham to explore links between music and codebreaking.
Many thanks to Crispin Lewis for allowing us reproduce his performance of Herbert Murrill's 1942 piece 'In Youth Is Pleasure'. www.crispinlewis.com
See copies of the documents we discuss in this episode here: https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/our-story/e191-music-at-bletchley-park/ 
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2026
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Codebreaker,

April 2026
Thriving 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 politics of the intelligence community.
In these circumstances even the most shining of lights could be overshadowed by events. The achievements of outstanding talents could be almost lost to history, as the subject of this month’s podcast proves.
In this episode - the second in our 'Focus On' series about remarkable figures in wartime codebreaking - we are joined by Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham. He brings a personal insight into the career of Josh Cooper, the head of Bletchley Park’s Air Section. Cooper was an intelligence pioneer, the legacy of whose tireless wartime work has been eclipsed by his eccentric personality.
Our thanks go to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our historical documents.
Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2026
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Codebreaker,

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 Thomson for voicing our historical documents.
Image: Public Domain https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C28674 
#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Italy,