February 2026

Even amongst the distinguished ranks of WW2 codebreakers, Emily Anderson stood out. Recruited into military intelligence during WWI, her stellar career in diplomatic codebreaking lasted into the 1950s. Her greatest achievement came with the breaking of high-level Italian ciphers during the East African Campaign of 1940-41. It was called 'the perfect example of the cryptographers' war' and earned her the OBE in 1943.

Anderson was also a renowned musicologist - her translations of the letters of Mozart and Beethoven are still considered authoritative. Yet until recent years, her life and intelligence work remained under the radar.

This episode helps to set the record straight, and kick off a new occasional series focusing on key personalities in codebreaking and intelligence. Bletchley Park's Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham is joined by Jackie Uí Chionna from the University of Galway to discuss the subject of her 2023 biography Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain's Greatest Female Codebreaker.

Our thanks go to Sarah Langston for voicing our historical documents.

The Marriage of Figaro - K. 492   CC PDM 1.0   www.classicals.de 

Image: © Dr. Dagmar von Bushe-Weise

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Italy, #Galway

January 2026

Rome: the 1930s, and the Italian secret services were having extraordinary success in reading the messages sent by rival countries’ diplomats from their embassies in the ‘Eternal City’. 

With the road to World War Two still ahead, it was a time of significant geo-political tension. The Italian government was learning the secrets of countries such as Britain and France in order to gain an advantage in international affairs. This would continue after Italy joined the war in 1940, with substantial consequences for the campaign in North Africa.

In this episode, we will hear how the Italians didn’t succeed by using mathematicians or intellectuals, but with a rather more direct approach. David Kenyon, Bletchley Park’s Research Historian, joins podcast producer Mark Cotton to reveal more.

Our thanks go to Dr Ben Thompson for voicing our historical documents.

Image: ©UK in Italy “Old British embassy with flag” CC BY-ND 2.0

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Italy,

December 2025

This is the fifth instalment of our annual episode where we celebrate the oncoming festivities of the snowy season - religious or secular - with a surfeit not of turkey and roasties but of questions! Questions sent in by our listeners, gifted to us through the medium of social media.

A selection of these holiday treats, where we bust myths and reveal hidden histories, has been made by Team Podcast who are all present and correct for this episode. Who are Team Podcast? Erica Munro (Head of Content), Dr David Kenyon (Research Historian), Dr Thomas Cheetham (Research Officer) and podcast producer Mark Cotton.

We have six of our listeners' finest questions to share with you - we will do five of these as a usual Q&A, but look out for the sixth question - relating to pets - as we intersperse our interview with simian Siginters' sidekicks, and canine Codebreakers' companions.

Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2025.
Photograph of Corporal Dionne, a dog, on watch at Gorleston.

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Q&A,

November 2025

During the second half of World War 2, the Allied air forces launched a large-scale heavy bomber offensive against German cities and war industries. This was designed to damage Germany's ability and will to continue the war. It also represented a way for Britain and the USA to support the Soviet Union before the D-Day invasion. The whole campaign was guided by intelligence, to identify the right targets, determine how badly they were damaged, and assess the effects on the German war effort.

This huge undertaking taxed Allied intelligence capabilities to their limits. It has since become one of the many contended issues in the debates around this costly and controversial campaign.

In this 'It Happened Here' episode, we are joined by Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham to explain the ways Signals Intelligence from Bletchley Park did - and didn't - guide Allied bombing strategy.

Our thanks go to Owen Moogan and Sarah Langston for voicing our historical documents.

Image: © National Museum of the US Air Force (Public Domain)

This episode is a follow up to episodes E170 & E171.

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #BomberCommand, #USAAF,

October 2025

Today GCHQ is an independent British intelligence organisation. However during World War 2, GC&CS, as it was then called, continued to be subordinate to the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as SIS or MI6. The Chief of SIS was also the Director of GC&CS.

In this episode, we explore the relationship between the two organisations, the part that SIS played in supporting GC&CS, and the ongoing presence of SIS at Bletchley Park itself. Head of Content, Erica Munro, is joined by our Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon, and by a special guest - historian and expert on the wartime history of SIS, Dr Claire Hubbard-Hall.

To see the objects we discuss in this episode, visit https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/our-story/e184-the-sis-at-bletchley-park/ 

Claire’s book ‘Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence’ is available from all good bookshops.

Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2025

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #MI6, #SIS, #SecretService,

September 2025

In 1945, Britain celebrated VE Day in May and VJ Day in August, as the war - first in Europe and then the Far East - came to an end. For the staff of GC&CS and its larger worldwide network, this meant that the vital and exhausting work they'd been doing suddenly stopped. The lives of all of them had been changed forever, but each person's experience was different.

Bletchley Park's Oral History archive is a treasure trove of Veterans' testimonies. In this It Happened Here episode, we will be digging into our sound archive to focus on how the workers reacted and what happened to them once peace was declared, in their own words. Our guide through these stories is Bletchley Park’s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon.

This episode features the following Veterans’.

Nora Copleston
Miriam Myland
Mary Kenyon
Ron Unwin
Betty Lawrie
John Statham
Betty Flavell
Fay Gold
Joan Smeaton
Gwen Page
Dot Tuffin
Kenneth Nicholson
John Moseley
Jimmy Thirsk
Rena Stewart
Mary Every
Daphne Canning
Betty Webb
Lady Marion Body
Margaret Thomas

Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2025

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #VEDay80, #VJDay80,

August 2025

On 15 August 2025 the UK commemorated the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, the day on which the surrender of Japan and the end of World War Two was announced.

This was a significant moment at Bletchley Park as it meant the end of almost six years of non-stop codebreaking and intelligence work.

For many it also brought an abrupt halt to years of training to learn Japanese and long journeys to reach postings in India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere in preparation for the upcoming invasion of Japan itself.

In this ‘It Happened Here’ episode we are joined by Bletchley Park’s historians Dr Tom Cheetham and Dr David Kenyon to discuss how the Japanese war ended and the part played by Bletchley Park and signals intelligence.

Our thanks go to Owen Moogan and Dr Ben Thompson for voicing our historical documents.

Image: Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri. Public Domain, United States Navy.

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #VJDay80,

July 2025

By late 1944, the tide had turned against the Japanese in south-east Asia, with the repulse of their attempted invasion of India. However, the multi-national Allied forces in Burma still faced enormous challenges if they were to retain the initiative, and push the enemy out of the country.

Every mile travelled from their supply bases, across barely-navigable expanses of jungle and mountain, exposed Allied troops to greater difficulties and risk of starvation and destruction. It was a struggle against the terrain and a race against time to liberate Burma before the arrival of the monsoon. In this struggle, intelligence and deception were essential weapons in the Allied arsenal.

In this It Happened Here episode, Head of Audiences and Programmes Vicki Pipe is joined by Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham to explore the 1945 battles for Burma and the race to Rangoon which formed the climax of Britain’s war against Japan.

This episode features Veteran’s Eric Rhodes, Roy Buckmaster and Dennis Underwood, from our Oral History archive.

Our thanks go to Owen Moogan and Dr Ben Thompson for voicing our historical documents.

Image: Oil painting of General William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim.

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #14thArmy,

June 2025

In May 1945 the Royal Navy fought its last surface action against the Japanese fleet, sinking the cruiser Haguro in the Mallaca Strait, off the coast of Malaya.

The successful location of the enemy ship was the result of signals intelligence. It was also a product of the sophisticated network built up by Britain, the USA and Australia after 1943 to intercept, decipher and distribute intelligence around the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

In this ‘It Happened Here’ episode, we are joined by Bletchley Park’s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon to discuss the role of the Codebreakers in this milestone on the road to ultimate victory over Japan in 1945.

This episode features Veteran Edward Simpson from our Oral History archive.

Our thanks go to Dr Ben Thompson and Owen Moogan for voicing our historical documents.

Image: Public Domain

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,

May 2025

During World War Two, Bletchley Park collaborated with several external engineering institutions in developing the famous codebreaking machines, such as the Bombes and Colossus.

One such institution was the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill in London. In 2022, the previously secret war diary of the Research Station were released online to the public by BT, the successor to GPO Telecommunications.

In this episode we are joined by James Elder, an archivist from BT Group Archives, as well as our own Research Historian, Dr David Kenyon, to find out what information the diaries can reveal about this secret collaboration.

Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing extracts from the War Diary.

Image: © Courtesy of BT Group Archives (TCB 473/P 5105)

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #BT, #GPO,

April 2025

To mark 80 years since the end of the war in Europe, this episode takes a closer look at four intriguing items from Bletchley Park’s collections. The team digs deeper into the stories that lie behind a mysterious message, a misunderstood photograph, a moving memo and audio of a Veteran’s memories of VE Day.

Head of Content Erica Munro meets up with Research Historian Dr David Kenyon, Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham and Museum Archivist Dean Annison. Plus producer Mark Cotton speaks with former WRNS Bombe Operator Ruth Bourne about her VE Day memories.

Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

To see the objects we discuss in this episode, visit www.bletchleypark.org.uk/our-story/e178-ve80/

Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2025

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #VEDay80,