Bletchley Park - a history highlight!

In December Michael and I took a long coveted trip to London and Edinburgh for Christmas - just us two. We wandered on Bond Street, gaped at the luxury of the Ritz, indulged in an authentic Sunday roast (best gravy ever), listened to Lesson & Carols at St. Mary's Cathedral, wandered through the grounds of St. Cuthbert's and Dean Village, were struck by the humility of St. Andrews Golf Course, drank tea and ate scones with clotted cream. The highlight though was a unexpected, previously unplanned trip to Bletchley Park thanks to a breakfast conversation with a couple from Australia.

Michael and I are both history buffs, particularly World War II. Long years ago on another trip to London we had visited and loved Churchill's War Rooms. The staggering reality of how the D-Day invasion was planned and implemented - without Google Maps, mobile phones, drones, AI, etc. - has always intrigued and stuck with me. The sheer audacity of the mind! Years later when we had a chance to visit Normandy we were reminded again of the enormity of that undertaking.

Bletchley Park, about 90 minutes north of London, where the German Enigma code was broken, is the perfect bookend to the War Rooms. It was here at Bletchley that a hugely diverse group of men and women (in the last 18 months at Bletchley, 75% of the labor force were women who were paid the same wages as men!) labored around the clock - literally. Yes, there were early computer prototypes but the real breakthrough came from the ability to think outside the box, to see patterns where none existed, to notice even the slightest change in a string of messages. Breaking the code allowed the allies to foil Hitler's plans in N. Africa, Italy, and plant enough disinformation that Hitler believed the Allied invasion would come at Calais. Again, the sheer audacity of the mind!

It may seem like a silly, small note, but I got the biggest kick out of the fact that the train station at Bletchley was the exact same one that was there in WWII. Young women and men would arrive in the dead of night. Someone would step from the shadows, ask for their identification, and then escort them across the road for the work of a lifetime. If you've never heard of Bletchley it may be because everyone who worked there signed the Official Secrets Act and were forbidden to tell family, friends, employers. It was only in the late 80's and early 90's that the full story began to unfold to the public. Do yourself a favor and read more about it!