The Secret Life of Bletchley Park The History of the Wartime Codebreaking Centre by the Men and Women Who Were There Synopsis
Bletchley Park 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. This country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was home to Britain's most brilliant mathematical brains, like 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 codebreaking, 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?
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781845136338 |
| Publication date: |
1st August 2011 |
| Author: |
Sinclair McKay |
| Publisher: |
Aurum Press Ltd |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
368 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Biographies & Autobiographies
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Sinclair McKay Press Reviews
'McKay's book is an eloquent tribute to a quite remarkable group of men and women, whose like we will not see again.'
Four stars Mail On Sunday
'I found this a truly breathtaking, eye-opening book.
A. N. Wilson Reader's Digest
'Mckay has succeeded in honouring a genuinely remarkable group of people in a solid, often entertaining and above all warm-hearted way.'
Daily Mail
'It is their stories, and the humbling thought of what their dedication to duty achieved, that make this book worth reading.'
Four stars Daily Telegraph
'A remarkably faithful account of what we did, why it mattered, and how it all felt at the time.'
The Guardian
'It is all so indelibly - and movingly - British.'
Five stars Seven (Sunday Telegraph)
'Intriguing oral history...with an anecdotal style McKay offers new insights into what life was like at the famous station'
Who Do You Think You Are magazine
'A telling and fascinating account of an extraordinary war'
Good Book Guide
'Amazing compendium of first-hand memories'
Sunday Express
'a telling and fascinating account of an extraordinary war'
Good Book Guide
'This book is an amazing compendium of memories, a colourful portrait of a quite unique chapter is Britain's war history.'
Daily Telegraph
About Sinclair McKay
Sinclair McKay writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph and The Secret Listeners and has written books about James Bond and Hammer horror for Aurum. His next book, about the wartime Y Service during World War II, is due to be published by Aurum in 2012. He lives in London.
Author photo © Liam Bergin
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