The battle to save Bletchley Park
09 September 2009
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Sinclair McKay attends the 70th anniversary reunion of the men and women who broke the Enigma code, and asks why the government won’t fund their museum
‘The turnout is very good,’ says eighty-something Ruth Bourne, glancing around at the tight, slow-moving mass of neat pink woolly cardigans, sensible skirts, pressed grey flannels and sports jackets. ‘More of us,’ she adds, ‘have come out of the woodwork.’
Ruth Bourne helped to shorten the second world war by two years, as did the 80 or so other elderly folk gathered here. We are milling around the big house of Bletchley Park — a Victorian manifestation of ‘lavatory gothic’ as one old BP veteran tartly put it — where, in conditions of total secrecy almost unimaginable now, the German Enigma codes were cracked, translated and analysed by the brightest people in Britain.
The impact of this intelligence on the course of the war can never be overestimated. Americans can drone on as much as they like about having saved us; but they would have had a job without the crystalline brilliance of the breakthroughs made in the draughty, rather primitive huts that are still clustered in the gardens around the house. Indeed, without the spectacular efforts of Alan Turing (more on him later) and fellow cryptographers, plus around 8,000 undergraduates, school-leaver linguists, chess champions, crossword experts, posh debutantes and women naval volunteers, well, WW2 could have ended a little less happily.
Yes, it is the 70th anniversary of the day Turing and the gang reported for duty at the outbreak of the war. But it’s also an excuse for an enjoyable get-together. These codebreakers — and Wrens like Ruth Bourne who operated the cipher-busting machinery — are really here to have a look at the place (now a terrific museum) and a chat.
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Sue Black
September 10th, 2009 5:17pm Report this commentFabulous article! Thank you so much for describing the situation so eloquently and poignantly.
Please see http://savingbletchleypark.org for details of the campaign to save Bletchley Park. It includes details of how to write to your MP asking them to sign Early Day Motion 1935 which asks for short term operational funding for Bletchley Park from Government. You can also follow Bletchley Park on Twitter @bletchleypark @stationx and @Dr_Black, search #bppark and #bpark70
Many thanks
Sue
David Short
September 10th, 2009 7:25pm Report this commentWhy does the Spectator publish articles asking for government funding?
Did it become socialist all of a sudden?
Jeremy
September 10th, 2009 10:49pm Report this commentI thought that was an excellent article.
I sincerely hope that Bletchley receives the funding that the efforts of those involved so richly deserve.
EM Needle
September 10th, 2009 11:45pm Report this commentYet another article on Bletchley without a mention that most of the important work on cracking the enigma code had already been done by the Poles before they handed the machines over.
David B. Wildgoose
September 11th, 2009 1:27pm Report this commentEM Needle, there is a Polish memorial at Bletchley Park, which is well worth a visit.
And although the information provided by the Poles was vital, it was NOT "most of the important work" by a long stretch.
KIM HAMMILL
September 11th, 2009 3:49pm Report this commentA wonderful article! Why is the campaign for funds not front page news? This is our true legacy, not some ghastly Blair-Brownite nonsense! The makers of the film have, I feel, a moral obligation to make a massive donation, and perhaps Mick Jagger could also be persuaded to write a cheque (if he has not already done so). this is exactly the sort of cause which merits Lottery Money, and we should ALL be demanding that the Government addresses the matter as a matter of great national importance.
GK
September 11th, 2009 4:09pm Report this commentYou shouldn't think that the war was won because of ULTRA Churchill's goose with the golden egg. For example, because of it they knew when the invasion of Crete will happen and waited for them but this doesn't mean that the British won the battle.
Victory depends on numbers of ships, aeroplanes, tanks etc
and all that was overwhelmingly on the Allies side, the final outcome was a matter of when not if.
Helen
September 12th, 2009 4:45pm Report this commentWell its obvious why this government don't want money to go to Bletchley Park: it makes the British proud; in a quiet happy way proud.
The marvellous people who worked to shorten the war were self-effacing and brilliant; "clever". That is another problem. Too clever.
Bletchly workers weren't obsessed by cheap fame or infamy or things, they used their minds to save us. Poor Mr Turing ("Alan" to Mr Brown), used as a sop by the Labour government in a worthless "apology" and no money to maintain his and his comrades legacy. What an insult to a great man.
These attitudes are anathema to this goverment who want us cheapened and beaten and stupid and distracted from what matters.
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