The Secret Life of Bletchley Park
Sinclair McKay
For the Benefit of Mr. Kite
This country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was home to Britain’s most brilliant mathematical brains 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. McKay’s book is the first history for the general reader of life at Bletchley Park, and an amazing compendium of memories from people who were once its habitants—of skating on the frozen lake in the grounds, of the high jinks at nearby accommodation hostels—and of the implacable secrecy that meant girlfriend and boyfriend working in adjacent huts knew nothing about each other’s work.