by Sue Black
Over lunch, Jerry told me that he was dedicating the rest of his life to highlighting the importance of Bletchley Park and the “three Ts”: Bill Tutte, Tommy Flowers and the Testery. Jerry had worked with Bill Tutte and told me that it was shocking that Tutte had received almost no recognition at all from the government for his fundamental work at Bletchley. He had gone to Canada after the war and carved out a career as a distinguished mathematician there, but no one knew that his work had been pivotal in winning the war. Tommy Flowers had also received little recognition. He had, at his own expense, built Colossus, the world’s first programmable, digital computer, to industrialise the breaking of the Lorenz code at Bletchley. Flowers was a Post Office engineer working at Dollis Hill during the war; he invented and built Colossus there and then took it up to Bletchley. Like everyone else who worked at Bletchley, Tommy Flowers signed the Official Secrets Act, and he, like Bill Tutte, received little credit after the war had ended.
The Testery was an operational unit at Bletchley Park. It was named after its leader, Ralph Tester – a protocol at Bletchley Park was that the operational units were named after those who led them (so, for example, Max Newman ran the Newmanry). Jerry had worked in the Testery with Bill Tutte, serving as shift leader, so it was the site of many of his memories and experiences. As Jerry spoke to me about his time at Bletchley Park, it became clear that we shared a common bond: the desire to make sure that the profile of Bletchley Park was raised and its future safeguarded. At one point his wife Mei mentioned his hobby, the stock market:
“How much was it that you got last week from your buying and selling shares, was it £6,000?” she asked him.
“£65,000,” came the matter-of-fact reply. I really do love it when people belie their appearance, especially when someone as unassuming and humble as Jerry reveals through his intellect and humour a fascinating inner life that is barely discernable to the outsider.
We talked for a few hours that day and parted fast friends with a shared purpose. It was clear that Jerry knew an incredible amount about what had happened at Bletchley and why it was important. I was so happy to have met and spent time with him and Mei. I also really wanted to find someone to help Jerry write his autobiography. I felt, and still feel, a real sense of urgency about finding people who worked at Bletchley and capturing their memories. Even at the time very few people had a complete picture of what was going on at Bletchley Park during the war. We now need as many memories from as many people as possible to build up our understanding. I left resolved to find someone to help Jerry write his autobiography; his was an important story that needed to be heard.
Funding and an important visitor
Pretty good progress began with an exciting announcement: IBM and PGP Corporation were giving $100,000 to The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.
I was invited up to a celebratory lunch at Bletchley Park. The President of PGP, Phil Dunkelberger, gave a very entertaining talk, followed by Andy Clark from TNMOC. It was wonderful to see all the press interest. It was also good to meet some of the professors who had signed our CPHC letter to The Times in person; previously I had only interacted with them online. I had a chat with a couple of them about the success of the letter. We had a lovely lunch in the library at Bletchley Park followed by a tour of the site. I have to say that even now, several years on, having probably been on thirty or more tours, I still enjoy every single one. I also find out something new every time, which to me once again underlines the importance of the site: there is so much just waiting to be discovered.
I also got a call from my friend Professor Caroline Wardle at the beginning of September. Caroline is an academic, a computer scientist and someone who enjoys supporting and encouraging other women in computer science. She held a senior role at the US National Science Foundation for a number of years, and we became friends after she moved back to the UK. Caroline was calling to ask if we could arrange a visit to Bletchley Park for a friend of hers who was visiting from the US. The friend, who had taught Caroline computing at university in the US, turned out to be the first female winner of the Turing Award (the computer science equivalent of the Nobel prize), Fran Allen.
Sue Black
@Dr_Black
Off to Bletchley Park again tomorrow. This time with Fran Allen (Turing award winner!) + Mavis Batey, last surviving female codebreaker :-)
10:54PM – 18 Sep 08
Fran was coming over to the UK to speak at a British Computer Society conference and really wanted to visit Bletchley Park while she was here. I was happy to facilitate this; I got in touch with Bletchley Park, and they organised a wonderful visit for us. I hadn’t known at the time, but Fran was coming to the UK to talk about a code breaking system that IBM built for the National Security Agency (NSA) in the late 1950s. Fran had spent a year at the NSA delivering a programming language, Alpha, that she and her colleagues had developed with the NSA. Fran was also really interested in the women at Bletchley Park, and I was excited to meet her.
Subject:Bletchley Park on Friday?
From: Fran Allen
To: Caroline Wardle
Sent: 10 July 2008
Let’s plan to go to Bletchley Park on Friday since they sometimes rent out space for events and that’s probably more likely to happen on weekends. I may not have mentioned why I am so interested. My talk at the conference will be about a code breaking system IBM built for NSA in the late 50’s. I spent a year at NSA delivering a programming language, Alpha, we had developed with NSA. Also I couldn’t possibly miss whatever they have on the women who worked there.
Fran, Caroline and I drove up to Bletchley Park together. When we arrived we were met by Simon Greenish and taken into the Mansion for tea. Simon introduced us to Frank Carter and Brian Oakley, Bletchley Park experts who would be our guides for the day. We were also introduced to the local MP, Phyllis Starkey, who was to join us on our tour. We sat down and introduced ourselves. Brian Oakley and I were sat next to each other, and he told me how wonderful it had been for him to see all of the coverage of Bletchley Park in the media. He had tears in his eyes; it was obvious that he cared very deeply about Bletchley Park. One of the greatest things at this stage of the campaign was meeting other people who felt as passionately as I did about Bletchley Park – it gave me so much confidence that I was doing the right thing.
On our tour, Frank and Brian talked about various aspects of Bletchley Park. Frank gave a demonstration and explanation of the Enigma machine, while Brian told us about some key breakthroughs in World War II that had been enabled by intelligence from Bletchley Park. This included the Battle of Cape Matapan, which Churchill regarded to be the greatest Royal Navy victory since Trafalgar. The victory effectively removed the Italian Navy from the Mediterranean and therefore the war. The code breaking breakthrough had come from a 19-year-old codebreaker working as one of Dilly [Knox]’s Girls at Bletchley Park. Her name was Mavis Batey, and we actually got to meet her that day. Michael Smith, author of Station X, interviewed Mavis for his book. He pays tribute to Mavis, her fellow female codebreakers, and the thousands of other women who worked at Bletchley Park, writing on the Bletchley Park website:
“It is often forgotten, amid the inevitable concentration on brilliant codebreakers like Alan Turing and Dilly Knox, that the vast bulk of the people who worked at Bletchley Park during the war were women, and while many of these worked in what might be regarded as menial positions each was important to winning the war. More than that, there were women among them who were themselves quite brilliant codebreakers and Mavis Batey was certainly one of these women. The Battle of Matapan was described by Churchill as the most important British naval victory since Trafalgar, and despite her long-standing modesty on the subject, considerable credit for that victory must go to Mavis.”
When we met Mavis, she was accompanied by her husband, Keith Batey, who had also worked at Bletchley Park. They were lovely, and although both in their
80s, they were very sprightly. At some point during the day, someone asked Mavis how she and Keith had met. She told us that they had both been working in the cottages at Bletchley Park during the war. Mavis liked the look of Keith, so had devised a test to see if Keith felt the same way about her. One day, while walking past his desk, she “accidentally” dropped a pencil on the floor next to him, reasoning that if he picked it up, he was interested. Ah, those were the days . . . I wonder if that would work now! (In fact when I asked Mavis if he had picked up the pencil, she said that he hadn’t – but they got together anyhow and were happily married for over 60 years.)
Mavis Batey (L) tells Fran Allen (R) and the group all about her experience working at Bletchley Park. The Enigma machine In addition to visiting the Colossus rebuild at The National Museum of Computing, we also got to see a new exhibit at Bletchley Park, which Mavis had curated: “From Bletchley, with love”. The exhibit highlighted James Bond author Ian Fleming’s work as a liaison officer between Bletchley Park and the Director of Naval Intelligence throughout the war.
As always, it was a wonderful visit. Meeting Mavis and Keith and hearing about Mavis’ incredible code breaking achievements at the age of just 19 was very special. I found myself wishing we had heard more of these kinds of stories growing up. I remember reading about Edith Cavell and other war heroines when I was at school; I would so love to have known about Mavis Batey too. Role models are important for young girls.
That afternoon Fran, Caroline and I said our goodbyes. As we drove home, Fran remarked that the American Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California couldn’t even hope to get across the same kind of understanding of code breaking and computing history that Bletchley Park and TNMOC did. Having now been there several times myself, I know what she means. They are both fabulous museums and I heartily recommend visiting them both if you have the chance, but the edge that Bletchley Park has over the Computer History Museum is that so much history actually happened right there, on that very site. More than ten thousand people worked round the clock to shorten the war and save millions of lives. Visiting Bletchley Park, walking on site there, is like stepping back in time. I’ve been there so many times now, and still, every time I walk through the gate and up towards the Mansion House I get a frisson of excitement . . . this is where it all happened. It’s a magical place.
Now we’re funding for the ceiling
Time rumbled along. I was spending several hours per day thinking about the campaign, contacting people, and talking to everyone I met about Bletchley, telling them what a wonderful place it is and asking them to sign the online petition.
Some great news came via a call from Jerry Roberts. He had received a call from the BBC to say that they wanted to interview him, along with Professor Jack Copeland, author of Colossus, a collection of reminiscences about Colossus from a range of people who had some involvement with it. I was thrilled to hear this; it meant that the BBC were taking Jerry’s story seriously. Perhaps it could even lead to a documentary about him and his time at Bletchley. Jerry told me that the BBC were going to put together a programme about Tommy Flowers: more great exposure for Bletchley! (This became the BBC documentary Codebreakers: Bletchley Park’s Lost Heroes, which aired on British television in 2011. It tells the story of Bill Tutte and Tommy Flowers and their massive contribution towards shortening the war.)
Just the next day I got some more great news, this time directly from Bletchley Park, but I was sworn to secrecy . . .
Sue Black
@Dr_Black
excited about Bletchley Park blog . . . some good news coming tomorrow :-)
savingbletchleypark.org
4:03 PM – 5 Nov 08
The exciting news was that Bletchley Park was to receive a grant of £330,000 from English Heritage, which could be used to carry out urgent repairs on the roof of the Mansion House. Water had been leaking through for some time and if not sorted out promptly could cause all sorts of damage to the building. The money had come just in the nick of time.
Simon Greenish rang to tell me the news.
“I think this has come out of the publicity this year with your contribution being a major factor,” he said. It was moving to hear that he thought the campaign was really working!
The story was linked from the BBC homepage; it was also front of the BBC Technology page. The story was picked up by more press than we were expecting. This was important, indicating not only that the media were now happy to run stories about Bletchley Park, but also that they wanted to run positive stories. It also showed that national funding institutions were willing and able to grant money to Bletchley Park. This was a major turning point. Perhaps it was no longer seen as such a huge financial risk to grant funding to Bletchley. Perhaps people were really starting to envision the wonderful future that Bletchley could have. Simon Singh and Angela Shepherd shared my excitement about the grant in their comments on the online BBC News story:
Simon Greenish, Director of Bletchley Park, with Sir Francis Richards and Dr Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage at Bletchley Park New lifeline for Bletchley Park
BBC News
6 November 2008
Britain’s code-cracking and computing heritage has won a lifeline in the form of a donation from English Heritage.
The grant of £330,000 will be used to undertake urgent roof works at Bletchley Park – where Allied codebreakers worked in World War II.
It is terrific that English Heritage have recognised the value of Bletchley Park. I hope that this investment will trigger a plan to bring Bletchley Park back to life so that future generations can learn about the extraordinary events that took place in and around the mansion.
Simon Singh, 25 November 2008, 16:49
So pleased to hear of the English Heritage grant – at least the roof of the main building will be sound. Shameful, though, that Bletchley Park still not deemed worthy of direct Government aid. Well done, Sue Black, for achieving so much media attention.
Angela Shepherd, 15 November 2008, 17:18
Station X does not mark the spot
I’d been blogging all of the key things that had happened as a part of my campaign at savingbletchleypark.org for about six months at this stage. It was the first time I’d written a blog. I was never much good at keeping a diary, so it wasn’t always easy to remember to do it or to know what to write, but I’d managed to write a few posts, and I was really glad that I had. The blog was valuable if only as a record to remind me of what I’d done as part of the campaign, but it was also heartening to start receiving comments from people that I didn’t know at all – it meant the campaign was having wider-reaching effects.
My father, Professor Donald Michie, worked at Bletchley Park with Alan Turing and others cracking codes and developing the first computer. He would have been delighted by the progress made in saving this historic site, as am I. I hope this is only the beginning of the support that its role deserves.
Professor Susan Michie, 13 November 2008, 10:03
Congratulations! Dr Black’s efforts have not been in vain. Bletchley Park can be the inspiration for the coming generations as the seat of technology creation that is British . . . Where all good things begin.
Patricia Miller, 6 November 2008, 13:41
I think its wonderful that people are finally starting to recognise the value of this place . . . Its a national treasure and and should be preserved along with all the other important parts of our history. I have over 150 students visiting Bletchley Park this week and they would all like to add their support as well. :)
Gavin Peake, 6 November 2008, 00:57
I cannot think that there is another country on this planet which would take the view that somewhere as important as BP does not merit public funds! WHAT DOES IT TAKE to get Governments to grasp reality?
James E. Siddeley, 5 November 2008, 15:03
They included a lov
ely one from Professor Susan Michie, daughter of Bletchley Park codebreaker Donald Michie. Donald Michie had been a close friend of Alan Turing and was one of the few people who could hold his own playing chess with him. I like this story about Turing and Michie from Michie’s obituary in the Telegraph in 2007:
“Fearing a German invasion might devalue his bank account, Turing turned his savings into bullion and buried the bars at several sites in the surrounding countryside.
For ‘security reasons’ he did not make a map, and after the war he asked Michie to help him retrieve the silver using a home-made metal detector; the only stash they located was under a stream and impossible to recover. Offered a third of the proceeds or £5 per visit, Michie had shrewdly chosen the latter.”
Michie went to work at Bletchley Park in the Testery, working on Tunny when he was just 18 years old. Wanting to help with the war effort, he had taken a course in cryptography and then been recruited to Bletchley Park from Balliol College, Oxford University where he had been studying classics.
It was lovely to get some feedback on my blog and to hear that people I had never met – some of them with direct connections to Bletchley! – thought that Bletchley Park was worth saving, too. The people around me, my partner Paul, my children, my friends and many of my colleagues at work, were of course supportive of what I was doing. But having posi-tive feedback from people who were completely outside of my circle gave me confidence that I was doing the right thing and that at some point the change we wanted would happen. Surely it wouldn’t be too much longer before Bletchley Park received the recognition and, just as importantly, the funding it needed to sustain itself. I was confident that soon a major technology company and/or the UK government would pick up on the idea that supporting Bletchley Park would earn them valuable kudos. So, I thought.