E42 - It Happened Here

Bletchley Park

History

4.8 • 177 Ratings

🗓️ 10 January 2016

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

January 2016

Throughout 2016, the Bletchley Park Podcast will tell stories of the Codebreakers’ successes and agonies - all of which they kept completely secret.

This month, it’s not German and it’s not Enigma. With help from Bletchley Park’s Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon, we look into the high level Italian ciphers being broken by Bletchley Park, which impacted significantly on the war in North Africa. There was a continuing dance of difficulty between the codebreaking operation in Cairo and HQ at Bletchley Park. Listen now to delve into this little known story.

We meet the nephew of a man who died capturing Enigma codebooks from a sinking U-Boat, a seizure which made a huge difference to the Battle of the Atlantic, but his family were told he’d perished in an unsuccessful mission. Now, the dramatic story of The Petard Pinch is beautifully told in a mini exhibition in naval codebreaking Hut 8. We take you behind the scenes at the exclusive preview.

Hear from vintage stylist Sarah Dunn of Sarah’s Doo-Wop Dos about why the 1940s Boutique has struck such a chord. This highly glamorous day out is back in 2016 and Sarah tells us what’s in store.

Finally this month, Veteran Betty Webb MBE gives us a sneak peek inside her Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Betty has been honoured for remembering and promoting Bletchley Park. At 92, she still regularly gives talks to schoolchildren as well as helping with fundraising and media appearances.

Image: Frederick Jacob, Director, CBME in Cairo ©Kenneth Jacob You can learn more about Frederick Jacob at the family website http://www.myjacobfamily.com/favershamjacobs/frederickarthurjacob.htm

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2Veteran, #History, #Churchill

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The Welcome from the home of the co-breakers and the birthplace of modern computing.
0:31.5	This is the Bletchley Park podcast.
0:42.7	Welcome to the first Bletchley Park podcast of 2016. It happened here.
0:50.1	This year will bring you stories of the co-breaker's successes and agonies, all of which they kept completely secret.
0:56.1	The first of these stories shows just how important Italian codes were, even before the war,
0:59.6	and how much of an impact they had on the fighting in North Africa.
1:05.1	Meanwhile, the incredible story of Sacrifice at Sea, which created a turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic, is now beautifully told in Naval Codebreaking Hut 8.
1:09.9	We'll hear from those who've told that story
1:11.7	and find out how it felt for the nephew of one of the men who died to see it. Also coming up this
1:18.3	month we drop in on the 1940s boutique, which is coming back for more this year to steep us all
1:23.2	in a bit of vintage glamour. And we hear from veteran Betty Webb about what it was like to receive her MBE at Buckingham Palace,
1:31.2	more than just a brush with royalty and well-deserved.
1:34.9	This month's It Happened Here's story is not German and it's not enigma,
1:39.1	so you'd be forgiven for not having heard of it,
1:41.1	but Bletchley Park was breaking into Italian ciphers as well,
1:44.9	which had a significant impact on the war in North Africa. Even before the war began, the government
1:50.4	code and cipher school had all but completely mastered Italian ciphers. Unfortunately for GCNCS, though,
1:57.2	the Italian armed services changed all their codebooks at the outbreak of hostilities in June
2:02.1	1940. I spoke to Bletchley Park's research historian, Dr David Kenyon, to delve into this
2:08.3	little-known story.
2:25.6	... This is Bletchley Park.
	...

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