Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is the home of British codebreaking and a birthplace of modern information technology. It played a major role in World War Two, producing secret intelligence which had a direct and profound influence on the outcome of the conflict. The site is now a museum and heritage attraction, open daily. The Bletchley Park Podcast brings you fascinating stories from Veterans, staff and volunteers on the significance and continued relevance of this site today.
Episodes
January 2026
Rome: the 1930s, and the Italian secret services were having extraordinary success in reading the messages sent by rival countries’ diplomats from their embassies in the ‘Eternal City’.
With the road to World War Two still ahead, it was a time of significant geo-political tension. The Italian government was learning the secrets of countries such as Britain and France in order to gain an advantage in international ...
This is the fifth instalment of our annual episode where we celebrate the oncoming festivities of the snowy season - religious or secular - with a surfeit not of turkey and roasties but of questions! Questions sent in by our listeners, gifted to us through the medium of social media.
A selection of these holiday treats, where we bust myths and reveal hidden histories, has been made by Team Podca...
During the second half of World War 2, the Allied air forces launched a large-scale heavy bomber offensive against German cities and war industries. This was designed to damage Germany's ability and will to continue the war. It also represented a way for Britain and the USA to support the Soviet Union before the D-Day invasion. The whole campaign was guided by intelligence, to identify the right targets,...
Today GCHQ is an independent British intelligence organisation. However during World War 2, GC&CS, as it was then called, continued to be subordinate to the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as SIS or MI6. The Chief of SIS was also the Director of GC&CS.
In this episode, we explore the relationship between the two organisations, the part that SIS played in supporting GC&CS, a...
In 1945, Britain celebrated VE Day in May and VJ Day in August, as the war - first in Europe and then the Far East - came to an end. For the staff of GC&CS and its larger worldwide network, this meant that the vital and exhausting work they'd been doing suddenly stopped. The lives of all of them had been changed forever, but each person's experience was different.
Bletchley Park's Oral Hist...
On 15 August 2025 the UK commemorated the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, the day on which the surrender of Japan and the end of World War Two was announced.
This was a significant moment at Bletchley Park as it meant the end of almost six years of non-stop codebreaking and intelligence work.
For many it also brought an abrupt halt to years of training to learn Japanese and long journeys to r...
By late 1944, the tide had turned against the Japanese in south-east Asia, with the repulse of their attempted invasion of India. However, the multi-national Allied forces in Burma still faced enormous challenges if they were to retain the initiative, and push the enemy out of the country.
Every mile travelled from their supply bases, across barely-navigable expanses of jungle and mountain, exposed ...
In May 1945 the Royal Navy fought its last surface action against the Japanese fleet, sinking the cruiser Haguro in the Mallaca Strait, off the coast of Malaya.
The successful location of the enemy ship was the result of signals intelligence. It was also a product of the sophisticated network built up by Britain, the USA and Australia after 1943 to intercept, decipher and distribute intelligence aro...
During World War Two, Bletchley Park collaborated with several external engineering institutions in developing the famous codebreaking machines, such as the Bombes and Colossus.
One such institution was the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill in London. In 2022, the previously secret war diary of the Research Station were released online to the public by BT, the successor to GPO Telecommunica...
To mark 80 years since the end of the war in Europe, this episode takes a closer look at four intriguing items from Bletchley Park’s collections. The team digs deeper into the stories that lie behind a mysterious message, a misunderstood photograph, a moving memo and audio of a Veteran’s memories of VE Day.
Head of Content Erica Munro meets up with Research Historian Dr David Kenyon, Research Officer D...
In 1943 there seemed to be few mysteries left unsolved for Bletchley Park. But by the middle of that year, whispers would be heard of new threats: the V-1 ‘flying bomb’ and V-2 rocket.
What began with hints of secret trials on the Baltic would grow into an investigation which would strain Allied scientific intelligence to the utmost, as well as revealing serious flaws in the operation at Bletchley ...
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 worl...
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 a...
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 ...
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 chr...
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 chr...
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’ communicati...
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’ communication...
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 les...
Hut 6 was the section at Bletchley Park which broke the German army and air force Enigma ciphers. Historical accounts usually focus on the early part of the war, when a small and inexperienced team was established in a newly-built wooden hut.
But by 1944 Hut 6 looked very different. It was a hardened unit of several hundred people, supported by cutting-edge technology. Hut 6 personnel had honed th...
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