Episodes

  • E176 - The Age of AI

    E176 - The Age of AI
    Feb 21 2025
    February 2025

    Here at Bletchley Park - one of the birthplaces of modern computing – our latest temporary exhibition ‘The Age of AI’ has just opened. This new gallery explores the power and potential of AI in our everyday lives. From the 1930s origins of what we now call ‘artificial intelligence’, to the incredible (or alarming?) potential it might bring, the exhibition explores the benefits and risks of AI in our world today.

    In this episode, Head of Content Erica Munro meets the team behind the exhibition’s creation. Come with us on a gallery tour with Exhibitions and Interpretation Manager Tilly Davis, and hear from experts and visitors on their impressions of what AI means to them. There’s also a deeper dive into the research and exhibition’s case studies with Content Curator Steve Swaby.

    Many thanks to our contributors Dame Wendy Hall, Dr Ed Pyzer-Knapp, Professor David Leslie and our Friends of Bletchley Park exhibition preview visitors.

    Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2025

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,
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    57 mins
  • E175 - Decoding the Holocaust

    E175 - Decoding the Holocaust
    Jan 27 2025
    January 2025

    The 27th of January 2025 is the eightieth anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau - an event marked annually by Holocaust Memorial Day.

    In order to perpetrate the mass killings and other crimes of the Holocaust, the Nazi regime needed to coordinate and communicate about its activities. This included wireless communications which were intercepted and decoded at Bletchley Park.

    In this episode we take a look at what the Government Code and Cypher School (Bletchley Park) knew about these Nazi crimes, how and when this information was obtained, and how western governments responded to the news.

    Bletchley Park’s Research Historian Dr David Kenyon is joined by journalist, author and Holocaust historian Christian Jennings to discuss his work on the role of codebreaking in these terrible events.

    Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2025

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Holocaust,
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    59 mins
  • E174 - Top Secret Misinformation Part 4

    E174 - Top Secret Misinformation Part 4
    Dec 20 2024
    December 2024

    For this year’s festive episode, we once again put the word out to our listeners: what baffles you about Bletchley Park, and what myths and misconceptions would you like our resident Historians to investigate and interrogate?

    Bletchley Park’s Head of Content, Erica Munro, is asking the questions, with Research Historian Dr David Kenyon and Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham fielding queries on uncracked ciphers, captured codes, cribbing, declassification … and, of course, Christmas.

    Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

    Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2024. Children’s Christmas party hosted by US 6813 Signals Security Detachment at the Manor House, Little Brickhill, from the photograph album of Francis Hayward Stanton.

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,
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    59 mins
  • E173 - Hunting the Beast Part 2

    E173 - Hunting the Beast Part 2
    Dec 6 2024
    December 2024

    On the 12th of November 1944 Germany’s largest battleship – Tirpitz – was sunk by British RAF Lancaster bombers off Tromso in Norway.

    Ever since its deployment to the region back in January 1942, the battleship had posed a threat to Arctic convoy operations. A large part of the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet as well as US vessels were tied up protecting convoys from this ship that Winston Churchill christened ‘The Beast’.

    Despite Tirpitz having never fired its guns in anger at Allied warships, its presence was threat enough. Intelligence experts continued the difficult work of tracking its location and state of readiness.

    The analysts of Bletchley Park’s Naval Section followed the ship for nearly three years, and played a key part in her final destruction. In this ‘It Happened Here’ episode, we are joined by Dr David Kenyon, Bletchley Park’s Research Historian and author of ‘Arctic Convoys: Bletchley Park and the War for the Seas’.

    Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

    Image: Australian War Memorial (Public Domain) Accession Number SUK11808

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Tirpitz,
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    40 mins
  • E172 - Hunting the Beast Part 1

    E172 - Hunting the Beast Part 1
    Nov 22 2024
    November 2024

    On the 12th of November 1944 Germany’s largest battleship – Tirpitz – was sunk by British RAF Lancaster bombers off Tromso in Norway.

    Ever since its deployment to the region back in January 1942, the battleship had posed a threat to Arctic convoy operations. A large part of the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet as well as US vessels were tied up protecting convoys from this ship that Winston Churchill christened ‘The Beast’.

    Despite Tirpitz having never fired its guns in anger at Allied warships, its presence was threat enough. Intelligence experts continued the difficult work of tracking its location and state of readiness.

    The analysts of Bletchley Park’s Naval Section followed the ship for nearly three years, and played a key part in her final destruction. In this ‘It Happened Here’ episode, we are joined by Dr David Kenyon, Bletchley Park’s Research Historian and author of ‘Arctic Convoys: Bletchley Park and the War for the Seas’.

    Many thanks to Dr Ben Thomson for voicing our archival documents.

    Image: Naval History and Heritage Command Catalog #: NH 71318

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Tirpitz,
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    45 mins
  • E171 - Bletchley Park & Bomber Command Part 2

    E171 - Bletchley Park & Bomber Command Part 2
    Nov 8 2024
    November 2024

    The crews of RAF Bomber Command had one of the most hazardous jobs of the war. Flying by night to their targets in occupied Europe, they were alone and vulnerable to the prowling German night-fighters.

    Helping them reach their targets was one of the least-known, but most significant achievements of the signals intelligence operation at Bletchley Park. Analysis of the night-fighters’ communications revealed priceless insights into the German defensive system – and how it could be evaded, outwitted and ultimately manipulated.

    In this ‘It Happened Here’ episode, Bletchley Park Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham tells us about one of Bletchley Park’s most important contributions to Britain’s total war against Nazi Germany.

    Many thanks to Mr Lindsay Spence for voicing our archival documents.

    Image: Herbert Olivier, Operations Room: Bomber Command Conference. Oil on canvas, 1944. From the Collection: Air Historical Branch, MOD, on long loan to the RAF Museum as part of the Second World War Official War Artists’ collection.

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #BomberCommand,
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    40 mins
  • E170 – Bletchley Park & Bomber Command Part 1

    E170 – Bletchley Park & Bomber Command Part 1
    Oct 25 2024
    October 2024

    The crews of RAF Bomber Command had one of the most hazardous jobs of the war. Flying by night to their targets in occupied Europe, they were alone and vulnerable to the prowling German night-fighters.

    Helping them reach their targets was one of the least-known, but most significant achievements of the signals intelligence operation at Bletchley Park. Analysis of the night-fighters’ communications revealed priceless insights into the German defensive system – and how it could be evaded, outwitted and ultimately manipulated.

    In this ‘It Happened Here’ episode, Bletchley Park Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham tells us about one of Bletchley Park’s most important contributions to Britain’s total war against Nazi Germany.

    This episode features the following Veteran from our Oral History archive:
    Sir Arthur Bonsall

    Many thanks to Dean Annison & Mr Lindsay Spence for voicing our archival documents.

    Image: ©Bletchley Park Trust 2024. Staff of Bletchley Park night fighter section in 1943. L-R standing: Pat Smith, Edith Davidson, Janet Smith, Florence Brooke, Vincent Chapman. Seated: Molly Blakeley, Catherine Payne, Brenda Gough. Front: Joy Parker, Jeanne Phillips.

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #BomberCommand,
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    46 mins
  • E169 - Learning the Ropes

    E169 - Learning the Ropes
    Sep 20 2024
    September 2024

    The Government Code and Cypher School employed thousands of people during the war. These varied from Cambridge dons who had broken codes in World War One to machine workers with very specific skills, to female conscripts from the three armed services.

    How did all these people know what to do? As usual at BP, the answer is a complex one: a mix of training courses (some well organised, others less so) developed as the organisation grew exponentially as the war progressed.

    In this month’s ‘It Happened Here’ episode we are joined by Bletchley Park Historian Dr David Kenyon to explore the varied experiences of new recruits finding out how to do their job – sometimes on an organised course, sometimes learning on the job, and sometimes literally making it up themselves.

    This episode features the following Veterans from our Oral History archive:
    Betty Webb
    Iris King
    Joan Joslin

    Many thanks to Sarah Langston for voicing our archival documents.

    Image: ©Will Amlot for the Bletchley Park Trust 2024

    #BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma,
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    1 hr and 4 mins