The Many Voices of Bletchley Park
Hello everybody
I am greatly interested in the history of signals, intelligence and computing. As background, I am ex-RAF, was once the I.T. Manager of Milton Keynes (where Bletchley Park is situated) and have walked a lot in North Bucks. And those threads have led me to see a lot of the MI6/SIS communications sites – 20 of them – in the area near Buckingham – see the map.
It also led me to write my books, which cover the subjects of how the mix of communications, security, code breaking and computing were fundamental not only to the outcome of the Second World war but also to the world we live in today. My books are called The Intelligence Zone and its sequel A New World After Pearl.
On the back of this, I have talked extensively - including at Bletchley Park(twice) - about these communications sites which I call The voices of Bletchley Park (not to be confused with the ears of BP - the 'Y' services – tho' I cover those too in my books and intend to develop a talk on them as well, when I have the time). I call this network of 20 sites The Whaddon Web, as it was controlled (by Richard Gambier Parry, MI6's communications manager) from Whaddon Hall.
Whaddon is the next village to me, and every year a group – often volunteers from Bletchley Park and the National Museum of Computing - broadcast from Windy Ridge in Whaddon. Two of them, John Pether and Peter Davies, both B.P. Volunteers of enormous knowledge, both RSGB members will be broadcasting from there this week on May the 8th. I shall walk over and join them (I told you I was keen on walking!)
I am honoured to have been invited by the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at Buckingham University to give my talk there. It is, as you might imagine, their kind of thing too. I will speak there on the 1st of June, at 2pm; and John and Peter have kindly offered to help me with a demo afterwards. Why not make a weekend of it and come along too? Buckingham is a lovely small town, Stowe gardens are superb and 2 miles away – while Bletchley Park with its two museums – the code-breakers museum and the National Museum of Computing – birthplace of the Information Age – are 30 minutes drive away. And if you have a mind for it, M.K. Is good for shopping too, I'm told! All we need is a bit of sunshine..
The tickets are £5 (including a cuppa!) and are available through Eventbrite - our talk is called 'The Many Voices of Bletchley Park'. It is a tale of generals, spies and saboteurs - James Bond for real. I attach a poster.
Should you be tempted, The White Hart in Buckingham is, I'm told, an unpretentious, nice and reasonably priced place to stay (and was also where Edward Travis, the organising genius who made B.P. Work, was billeted during the war). If you want to know more, feel free to email me at intzoneuk@gmail.com
There is more about me on my website www.theintelligencezone.com with several blogs about the Whaddon Web.
It would be great to meet you!
Alan Biggins
