E69 - From Cooks to Codebreakers

Bletchley Park

History

4.8 • 177 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2018

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

February 2018

Is Bletchley Park about codes, machines or people? Of those, the most fascinating stories come from the people who did this incredible job, and then kept it absolutely secret, for at least another 30 years.

Their memories are precious and it’s crucial that we capture as many as we can, so that future generations can read and listen to their first-hand accounts of not only their amazing achievements, but what life was like during those defining years.

A new exhibition in the glorious Garden Room in the Victorian mansion, Veterans’ Stories, celebrates the Oral History Project by showcasing extracts.

In this episode, we meet Pat Field, who broke Japanese codes and translated messages, right at the end of the war. We also hear from Joan Ireland, a civilian who was set to work on Type X machines, the British answer to Enigma but had to dodge pigs, horses and Italian Tenors just to get home.

Image: ©Pat Field - Performing in The Importance of Being Earnest at Bletchley Park during WW2.

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #Enigma, #WW2

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The From the home of the co-breakers and the birthplace of modern computing, this is the Bletchley Park podcast.
0:44.8	Welcome to the February 2018 episode of the Bletchley Park podcast, from cooks to codebreakers. This month, we're delving into a brand new exhibition in the historic mansion,
0:50.7	which celebrates the treasure trove that is the Oral History Project.
0:55.2	If I was to ask you to tell me the Bletchley Park story in a nutshell, what would you mention
1:00.3	first?
1:01.4	World War II?
1:02.6	Codes and Ciphers?
1:04.0	The huge strides in technology made to crack them, or the people who did this incredible
1:09.5	job and then kept it absolutely secret for at least
1:13.6	another 30 years. We at Bletchley Park believe it is first and foremost a story about people.
1:21.3	That's why the Oral History Project is so valuable and why its contents will live on.
1:27.2	Now a brand new exhibition in the glorious
1:29.8	garden room in the Victorian mansion tells some of the stories captured and preserved for future
1:35.5	generations by the Oral History Project. In this episode, we'll bring you extracts of two of those
1:42.1	oral history interviews. Pat Field broke Japanese codes
1:46.0	and translated messages right at the end of the war. And Joan Ireland worked in the communications
1:52.2	hub in Block E, using Type X machines, the British answer to Enigma. But first, let's find out a bit more
1:59.8	about how this exhibition has been put together.
2:03.0	Exhibitions assistant Emma Treleven has been chatting to podcast producer Mark Cotton.
2:15.0	So, Emma, can you give me a bit of background for why we're opening this new exhibition and what it's about, really?
2:21.6	Well, we really wanted to create a dedicated space to show the contribution of veterans specifically.
	...

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