Radio 4 'The Reunion' - Sunday 6th April - 11.15am to 12.00

 

The group was known by Winston Churchill as "the geese that laid the golden eggs, and never cackled" and played a vital role in the War, breaking German coded messages.

The code-breakers were recruited from all manner of backgrounds: academics, anthropologists, Egyptologists, palaeontologists, actresses, crossword addicts, debutantes; even the occasional lawyer turned out to "have the knack".

Joining Sue MacGregor are code-breaker Lord Asa Briggs; John Herival, also a code-breaker whose vital Herival Tip earned him a special introduction to Churchill; Mavis Batey, who broke the code that led to victory at Matapan; Ruth Bourne, who was a Wren and operator of "the bombe" decoding machine; and Sarah Baring, who translated the broken German codes into English.

Together the group recalls life at Bletchley Park, the unquestioned code of silence, the long hours and hard work as well as the social life, the romances, the visiting Americans and the elation as codes were broken and the information they yielded began to be of vital importance.

Presenter/Sue MacGregor, Producer/David Prest

BBC Radio 4 Publicity