E169 - Learning the Ropes

Bletchley Park

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
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