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Sinclair McKay - The Secret Life of Bletchley Park (2nd Hand Paperback)
SKU B001590
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Original price
£2.20
Original price
£2.20
£2.20
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£2.20
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Synopsis
Bletchley Park has played a vital role in British history.
This Victorian country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was was where one of the war’s most famous - and crucial - achievements was made: the cracking of Germany’ s 'Enigma' code in which its most important military communications were couched. It was home to some of Britain’s most brilliant mathematical brains, such as Alan Turing, and the scene of immense advances in technology - indeed, the birth of modern computing.
The military codes deciphered there were instrumental in turning both the Battle of the Atlantic and the war in North Africa. But, though plenty has been written about the boffins, and the code-breaking, fictional and non-fiction - from Robert Harris and Ian McEwan to Andrew Hodges’ biography of Turing - what of the thousands of men and women who lived and worked there during the war? What was life like for them - an odd, secret territory between the civilian and the military?
This is the first oral history of life at Bletchley Park, an amazing compendium of memories from people now in their eighties - of skating on the frozen lake in the grounds (a depressed Angus Wilson, the novelist, once threw himself in) - of a youthful Roy Jenkins, useless at code-breaking, of the high jinks at nearby accommodation hostels - and of the implacable secrecy that meant girlfriend and boyfriend working in adjacent huts knew nothing about each other's work.
At the secret code-breaking centre of Bletchley Park, debutantes, factory workers, students and Wrens were thrown together with Britain's most brilliant brains, united in work of almost unbearable intensity, and even greater importance. But there was far more to their days (and nights) than the long hours spent decrypting enemy messages.
Details
- Format : Standard 2nd Hand Paperback.
- Condition : Good
- Category : Non-Fiction - War & Civil War
- Published : 2010 (Aurum)
- ISBN : 9781845136338
- SKU : B001590
- PPC : LL280gm
- RRP : £8.99
- Quantity Available : 1 only.
External Reviews
"Sinclair McKay's acclaimed book reveals what life was really like for the young people whose clandestine efforts were instrumental in winning the war." - The Daily Express.
"Having read a few books about Bletchley Park now this is the one that is the most intimate and personal. It does cover the science and technological side of the code breaking, but this is not the primary focus of the book. It is a series of anecdotes and memories of people who worked there, with the known loose ends tied together. I liked narrative of the book, the author has written it with a light touch, leaving the people who worked there to tell their story and hear their voices. A good book and a good addition to the magnificent story of Bletchley." - Waterstones Review.
The Author
Sinclair McKay is the bestselling author of Dresden, The Secret Life of Bletchley Park, The Secret Listeners, Bletchley Park Brainteasers and Secret Service Brainteasers. He is a literary critic for the Telegraph and the Spectator and lives in London.
Featured Author . . . Sinclair McKay