Bletchley Park By cover art

Bletchley Park

By: Bletchley Park
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • Bletchley Park is the home of British codebreaking and a birthplace of modern information technology. It played a major role in World War Two, producing secret intelligence which had a direct and profound influence on the outcome of the conflict. The site is now a museum and heritage attraction, open daily. The Bletchley Park Podcast brings you fascinating stories from Veterans, staff and volunteers on the significance and continued relevance of this site today.
    ©Bletchley Park Trust
    Show more Show less
Episodes
  • E163 - The Women of Newnham College

    E163 - The Women of Newnham College
    Apr 25 2024
    April 2024

    Women were the backbone of Bletchley Park during World War Two. At its peak in January 1945, the workforce was 75% female, but even at the start of the war, women comprised a significant portion of GC&CS’s numbers. Women were recruited in a variety of ways, but a significant quantity of them, particularly early in the war, were selected direct from prominent universities such as Oxford, St Andrews and Cambridge.

    Over the last few years, a team of members of Newnham College Cambridge have been researching the women from their college who worked at Bletchley Park and in other wartime roles. They have discovered, astonishingly, more than 70 students and alumnae were recruited to BP. After close collaboration with the team at Bletchley Park Trust, a new exhibition presents their findings and reveals some hidden histories.

    In this episode, recorded at Newnham College, Bletchley Park’s Head of Content, Erica Munro, meets the three women behind this new research and we visit the exhibition to find out more about their discoveries. Dr Sally Waugh, Dr Gill Sutherland and Newnham College Archivist Frieda Midgley share what they’ve uncovered, and what surprised them, about the Newnham women who worked at Bletchley Park.

    This episode features our Oral History recordings of three of those Newnham women:

    Sister St. Paul
    Lady Elisabeth Reed
    Mrs Brenda Lang

    Image: Reproduced with the permission of Dr John Clarke via Kerry Howard from her research into the life of Joan Clarke.

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Newnham,
    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 28 mins
  • E162 - Before the Codebreakers

    E162 - Before the Codebreakers
    Mar 23 2024
    March 2024

    Bletchley Park is famous as the home of World War 2 codebreaking. But what was there before the Government Code and Cypher School moved in? Who built Bletchley Park, and what remains of the pre-war country estate?

    In this episode, Research Historian Dr David Kenyon and Head of Content Erica Munro examine the people who made Bletchley Park their home prior to World War 2. Sir Herbert Leon and his family bought, expanded and lived in the now-familiar Mansion, stamping their individual style on the design of the building and the estate. Surviving historical records shed an intriguing light on the Leons, their philanthropy, interests and impact on the local community.

    We also hear from Professor Abigail Green of Brasenose College, Oxford University, an expert on Jewish Country Houses, to discover more about the social context of the family who ‘made’ Bletchley Park.

    Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2024

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,
    Show more Show less
    57 mins
  • E161 - Learning: Past, Present and Future

    E161 - Learning: Past, Present and Future
    Feb 23 2024
    February 2024

    In 2023, Bletchley Park Trust completed its biggest refurbishment project to date – a £13 million, three-phase project, to open up wartime buildings at the heart of the site for the very first time.

    The final phase saw Block E, once the wartime Communications hub of Bletchley Park, transformed into two new resources – the Block E Learning Centre – which includes eight learning spaces able to accommodate learners from primary school pupils to students in higher education – and the Fellowship Auditorium, a state-of-the-art, 250-seat, presentation and event space.

    In this special episode, we join Lily Dean, Learning Manager, and Vicki Pipe, Head of Audiences and Programmes, as they give us tour of the new spaces, and reveal the inspiring activities learners can enjoy as part of our award-winning learning programme. Dr David Kenyon, Research Historian, and Dr Thomas Cheetham, Research Officer, also bring to life the wartime and post-war history of this once closed off building.

    Image: Learners in Block E ©Bletchley Park Trust 2024

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2,
    Show more Show less
    49 mins
World
Show more Show less

What listeners say about Bletchley Park

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available