The Secret Listeners

by Sinclair McKay

  7 Dryden in Hinsley and Stripp, Codebreakers

  8 Countess of Ranfurly, To War with Whitaker

  12 Rommel and the Art of Dirty Tricks

  1 Skillen, Knowledge Strengthens the Arm

  2 Clayton, The Enemy is Listening

  3 Patrick Wilkinson in Hinsley and Stripp, Codebreakers

  4 Dafydd Williams, interviewed for Bedford Museum

  5 Pidgeon, The Secret Wireless War

  13 Not So Quiet on the Domestic Front

  1 Margaret Smee, interviewed by the BBC in 2003

  2 Sybil Welch and Joy Hale in Page, They Listened in Secret

  3 Vi Mitchell, contributing to Caithness.org ‘Women At War’ project

  4 Wilma Hall, contributing to Caithness.org ‘Women At War’ project

  5 Memo in the National Archives, HW42 series

  6 Hugh Trevor-Roper’s reports in the National Archives, HW19 series

  7 Trevor-Roper, The Wartime Journals

  8 Reports in the National Archives, HW19 series

  9 Clayton, The Enemy is Listening

  14 Life-long Friendships Were Forged

  1 Tom Goff, writing in the Tel (s) newsletter, 1997

  16 Foreboding and Frustration

  1 Harold Everett in Skillen, Knowledge Strengthens the Arm

  2 Skillen, Knowledge Strengthens the Arm

  3 Memo in the National Archives, AIR29 series

  4 Clayton, The Enemy is Listening

  5 Elphick, Far Eastern File: The Intelligence War in the Far East

  6 Alan Stripp in Hinsley and Stripp, Codebreakers

  17 Witnesses to Different Worlds

  1 Skelton, Tears Before Bedtime

  2 Rosemary Morton in Page, They Listened in Secret

  18 D-Day and After

  1 Memo in the National Archives, HW8 series

  2 Memo in the National Archives, HW8 series

  3 David Pearson in Skillen, Spies of the Airwaves

  19 The End and the Beginning

  1 Cynthia Humble, contributing to the Bletchley Park website

  Acknowledgements

  With huge thanks to Kelsey Griffin and Sue Litchfield of the Bletchley Park Museum for putting the word out, and for introducing me to so many brilliant veterans. Among these, and their families too, special thanks and huge appreciation to Geoffrey Pidgeon, Majorie Gerken, Pat Sinclair, Ray Fautley, Peter Budd, Robert Hughes, Peter Sinclair, Betty White, Jay McDonald, Victor Newman, Cherrie Ballantine, Iris Sugg, Mimi Galilee, Jean Valentine, Alison Trelfa, Ted Mitchell, Chris Barnes, plus members of the Tel(s) Associations around the country. Many thanks also to Graham Coster at Aurum, and to editor Steve Gove for his enduring patience. Thanks also to readers of The Secret Life of Bletchley Park who wrote with their own stories and family memories. Thanks also to everyone else at the Bletchley Park Museum: an invaluable institution that just gets better year after year.

  On top of this, there are some terrific books to be recommended; vivid memoirs and collections of memories. For its sheer eye-opening quality, there is Aileen Clayton’s The Enemy is Listening (Hutchinson, 1980), a personal account of her war. For technical expertise – especially in terms of the work of Whaddon Hall and its operatives – there is Geoffrey Pidgeon’s The Secret Wireless War (UPSO, 2003). Mr Pidgeon also put together Edgar Harrison: Soldier and Ultra Wireless Operator (Arundel Books, 2008). The fascinating stories of a great many Wrens were collected by Margaret Ackroyd and edited by Gwendoline Page for They Listened in Secret (George R. Reeve, 2003). Hugh Skillen covered the subject – and the story of his own war – in hypnotic depth across several volumes, the most gripping of which is Knowledge Strengthens the Arm (1990).

  Slightly more laterally, Barbara Skelton’s memoirs Tears Before Bedtime (Hamish Hamilton, 1987) are often howlingly funny; and the Countess of Ranfurley’s To War with Whitaker (Mandarin, 1994) is social history at its colourful best. Many Y veterans enjoyed Joan Nicholls’ account of her time at Beaumanor in England Needs You: The Beaumanor Y Station (2000). For an absorbing insight into the lively, poetic and often waspish intellect of RSS operative Hugh Trevor-Roper, his recently published Wartime Journals, edited by Rupert Davenport-Hines (IB Tauris, 2012) are now available.

  Meanwhile, collected essays and memories of key Bletchley personnel, describing the intricacies of the work, can be found in Codebreakers, edited by Harry Hinsley and Alan Stripp (OUP, 1993). Added to this, the account by Frederick Winterbotham in his pioneering book The Ultra Secret (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974) still makes for a fascinating read. Many interesting titles are available at Bletchley Park’s brilliant shop.

  Index

  A Matter of Life and Death (film) ref 1

  Abbottabad ref 1

  Abwehr ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11

  Ackroyd, Miggs ref 1, ref 2

  Adstock ref 1, ref 2

  Afghanistan ref 1

  after-effects, physical ref 1

  Agar, Elizabeth ref 1, ref 2

  Agent Garbo ref 1

  Alexander, General ref 1, ref 2

  Alexander, Lady ref 1

  Alexandria ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  Alford, Vivienne ref 1, ref 2

  Algiers ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  amateur radio operators ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  see also Voluntary Interceptors

  American fraternisation ref 1, ref 2

  American Signal Intelligence Service ref 1

  American Y operations ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Anzio ref 1

  Appleton, A.H. ref 1

  Ardennes offensive ref 1

  Arkley View, Barnet ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Arnhem ref 1, ref 2

  Arnim, Gen von ref 1, ref 2

  Ash Wednesday ref 1

  Athens ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  Atlantic and Arctic convoys ref 1

  atomic weapons ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Auchinleck, Gen ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Auxiliary Intelligence Organisation ref 1

  Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11

  Baker, Bill ref 1

  Baker, Daphne ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Ballantine, Cherrie ref 1, ref 2

  Baring, Hon. Sarah ref 1

  Barnes, Chris ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  Battle of Britain ref 1, ref 2

  Battle of Crete ref 1

  Battle of Gazala ref 1

  Battle of Greece ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Battle of Jutland ref 1

  Battle of Kursk ref 1

  BBC ref 1

  BBC World Service ref 1

  beam bombing ref 1

  Beaumanor Hall ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12

  Beijing ref 1

  Benina ref 1

  Bennett, Ralph ref 1, ref 2

  Beurton, Ursula ref 1

  Bicher, Col ref 1

  billeting arrangements ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  Birch, Frank ref 1

  Bismarck, sinking of ref 1

  Black Broadcasts ref 1

  Blenkinsop, Philip ref 1, ref 2

  Bletchley Park ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15, ref 16, ref 17, ref 18, ref 19, ref 20, ref 21, ref 22, ref 23, ref 24, ref 25, ref 26, ref 27, ref 28, ref 29, ref 30, ref 31, ref 32, ref 33, ref 34, ref 35, ref 36, ref 37, ref 38, ref 39, ref 40, ref 41, ref 42, ref 43, ref 44, ref 45, ref 46, ref 47, ref 48, ref 49, ref 50, ref 51, ref 52, ref 53, ref 54, ref 55, ref 56, ref 57

  Blitz ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Bloodworth, Lt-Cdr ref 1

  Blount, Sir Charles ref 1

  Bochman, Beatrice ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Bolshevism ref 1

  Bombay ref 1

  bombe machines ref 1


  Bone ref 1

  Bonsall, Sir Arthur ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7

  Boylan, John ref 1, ref 2

  Brown, Capt ref 1

  Brown, Gordon ref 1

  Brussels, liberation of 308–9 bubonic plague ref 1

  Budd, Peter ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10

  Burgess, Guy ref 1

  Burrows, Bernard ref 1

  Bywater, Hector ref 1

  Cable and Wireless ref 1, ref 2

  Cadogan, Sir Alexander ref 1

  Cairo ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15, ref 16, ref 17, ref 18

  Caithness ref 1

  Campden, Jean ref 1

  Campos, Martinez ref 1

  Canaris, Admiral ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Cannicott, Shirley ref 1

  card-file index system ref 1, ref 2

  Casablanca ref 1

  Casablanca conference ref 1

  Casson, Col ref 1

  Ceylon see Colombo, Ceylon

  Chamberlain, Neville ref 1

  Charters, Ron ref 1

  Chatham ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  Cheadle ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  Chennells, Bob ref 1, ref 2

  Chicksands Priory ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  Chinese cryptography ref 1

  Churchill, Winston ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  Civil Service Radio Operators Association ref 1

  Clark, Gen ref 1, ref 2

  Clayton, Aileen ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15, ref 16

  Clunies-Ross, John ref 1

  coastal out-stations ref 1, ref 2

  see also individual entries

  Cocos Islands ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Cohen, Jon ref 1

  Cold War ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Colombo, Ceylon ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15

  Combined Middle East Bureau ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Cooke, Alice ref 1

  Coombs, Betty ref 1

  Cooper, Arthur ref 1

  Cooper, Duff ref 1

  Cooper, Josh ref 1, ref 2

  Cooper, Percy ref 1

  Copson, Gordon ref 1

  counter-intelligence operations ref 1, ref 2

  Courtnage, Lynda ref 1

  Cowgill, Felix ref 1

  Crankshaw, Maj Edward ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Crete ref 1

  Cripps, Sir Stafford ref 1

  cross-Channel operations ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Curnock, Lt-Cdr ref 1

  Currer-Briggs, Noel ref 1

  D-Day ref 1

  Daily Mirror ref 1

  dancing ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Davenport-Hines, Richard ref 1

  Davies, Wynn ref 1

  de Cros, Col ref 1

  de Grey, Nigel ref 1, ref 2

  de la Bertauche, Maurice ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Delhi ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  demobilisation ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  dengue fever ref 1

  Denham, Hugh ref 1, ref 2

  Denmark Hill, London ref 1

  Denniston, Alastair ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  dial accuracy ref 1

  Dickinson, Capt Frank ref 1

  Dinwoodie, Joan ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  diphtheria ref 1, ref 2

  Diplomatic Wire Service ref 1

  direction finding ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  dirty tricks ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Dodd, Harry ref 1

  Doherty, Peggy ref 1

  Dönitz, Admiral ref 1

  double agents ref 1

  Double Playfair ref 1, ref 2

  Dover ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Doxford ref 1

  Dryden, Henry ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Dunkirk ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  dysentery ref 1

  Earle, Gladys ref 1

  East African campaign ref 1

  Egypt see Cairo; North African campaign

  Eindhoven ref 1

  Eisenhower, Gen ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  El Alamein ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  El Guettar ref 1

  Ellingworth, Cdr ref 1, ref 2

  Ellis, Col ref 1

  Elphick, Peter ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Enigma codes ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12

  Enigma encryption machines ref 1, ref 2

  errors ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Evans, Peggy ref 1

  Everett, Harold W. ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9

  Experimental Armoured Division ref 1

  Fagg, Jane ref 1

  Far East Combined Bureau ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  Farouk, King ref 1, ref 2

  Fautley, Ray ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9

  FBI ref 1

  feminism ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Ferraby, H.C. ref 1

  First World War ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  ‘fists’ ref 1, ref 2

  Fleming, Capt Peter ref 1

  Foreman, Mary ref 1, ref 2

  Forest Moor ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Fort Bridgewood ref 1

  Foss, Hugh ref 1

  Franco, General ref 1

  French, Robin Stuart ref 1

  Freyburg, Gen ref 1, ref 2

  friend or foe codes ref 1

  Frost, Edna ref 1

  Fuchs, Klaus ref 1

  Gambier-Perry, Brig Richard ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7

  Gandhi, Mahatma ref 1

  Gaulle, Charles de ref 1

  GCHQ ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  General Post Office radio operators ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Gerken, Marjorie ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13

  German pilot communications ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Ghost Voices ref 1

  Gill, Walter ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Goff, Tom ref 1

  Gort, Lord ref 1, ref 2

  Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7

  Graf Spee ref 1

  Gray, Maj. T. ref 1

  Greece ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7

  Grossman, Cynthia ref 1

  Hale, Joy ref 1, ref 2

  Hall, Admiral ref 1

  Hall, Wilma ref 1

  Hanslope Park ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Harpenden ref 1

  Harries, G.A. ref 1, ref 2

  Harrison, Edgar ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Harrogate ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Hartland Point ref 1, ref 2

  Harwich ref 1, ref 2

  Hawker, Pat ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Hawkinge ref 1

  Heliopolis ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15

  Hellfire Corner ref 1, ref 2

  Hess, Rudolf ref 1

  Hinsley, Harry ref 1

  Hiroshima ref 1

  Hitler, Adolf ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  ‘Hitler Diaries’ ref 1

  HMS Alidina ref 1, ref 2

  HMS Anderson ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10

  HMS Byron ref 1

  HMS Flowerdown ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10

  HMS Keppel ref 1

  HMS Sceptre ref 1

  HMS Shropshire ref 1

  Hocheimer ref 1

  Hollerith machines ref 1

  Hollis, Roger ref 1

  Hollywood Manor ref 1

  Home Defence Units ref 1, ref 2r />
  see also coastal out-stations

  Hong Kong ref 1, ref 2

  Hore-Ruthven, Pat ref 1

  hostility to women operatives ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Howat, Capt Thomas ref 1

  HRO radio sets ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Huff-Duff (HF/DF receivers) ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Hughes, Robert ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7

  Humble, Cynthia ref 1

  Hunstanton ref 1

  illness and disease ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  Impahl ref 1

  India ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  International Labour Organisation (ILO) ref 1

  Isle of Man ref 1

  Isle of Wight ref 1

  Ison, Lisa ref 1

  Istanbul ref 1, ref 2

  Italian campaign ref 1, ref 2

  Jacob, Maj Freddie ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6

  Japan, surrender of ref 1

  Japanese cryptography ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9

  Japanese meteorological codes ref 1

  Japanese Morse ref 1

  Jerusalem ref 1, ref 2

  Jones, Eric ref 1

  Kabul ref 1

  Kafr-El-Farouk ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Karachi ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Kasserine Pass ref 1

  Kesselring, Gen ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  Kilindini ref 1, ref 2

  Kingsdown ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8

  Knox, Alfred Dillwyn ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Kohima ref 1

  le Queux, William ref 1, ref 2

  leisure and entertainment ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12

  Lever, Mavis ref 1

  Lewin, Ronald ref 1

  Libya ref 1

  Lilburn, Wilf ref 1, ref 2

  Linklater, Eric ref 1

  Lucas, Peter Gray ref 1, ref 2, ref 3

  Lutjens, Admiral ref 1

  Ma’aten Bagush ref 1

  McDonald, Jay ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4

  Maclean, Donald ref 1

  Madras ref 1

  malaria ref 1

  Malta ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5

  Maltby, Lt-Col E.L. ref 1

  Manning, Olivia ref 1

  Marconi ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7

  Marr-Johnson, Lt-Col Peter ref 1