Secret Days Codebreaking in Bletchley Park

by Asa Briggs

Secret Days Codebreaking in Bletchley Park by Briggs, Asa. Published by Pen & Sword Books,2011, Hardcover

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Autobiography, Espionage, War

Unknown Binding

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs was an English historian, best known for his studies on the Victorian era. In particular, his trilogy, Victorian People, Victorian Cities, and Victorian Things made a lasting mark on how historians view the nineteenth century. He was made a life peer in 1976.

Reviews

[Huw Evans · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is one of the biggest pieces of misrepresentation in literary history. I am interested in the history of Bletchley Park and the mathematics of cryptography. In spite of its subtitle there is nothing, other than the admission that he worked there for two years, that is of any interest regarding the mechanics of breaking the German and Japanese encrypting process.

It is difficult to categorise this book. It doesn't really fall into the History category being without adequate referencing. It is more like the sketchy reminiscences of an elderly gentleman passing time in his club by remembering the people that he encountered before, during and after his time at Bletchley. Although from Keighley originally, his life appears to begin from the point at which he went to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and the British public school and Oxbridge theme recurs throughout the book. He appears to espouse the theory of academical elitism on almost every page with the caveat that your background prior to going to university is wiped out as soon as you don your cap and gown. His academic credentials are sans pareil, I have to admit, but there is an element of unreality about his endless list of the people (mostly the great and the good) with whom he has passed the time.

Stylistically the book is involuted to the point of origami and his sentence structure, bereft of commas, can make for difficult reading. I am not certain at the end of this book what his intention was in the writing. Still less can I say whether he achieve it. All I can say is that I would not recommend it to anybody but a reader with a personal interest in Baron Briggs of Lewes.

[Vikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf at 50 pages

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

In keeping with the British attitude of suspicion towards intellects - when BP was first set up (it would later become GCHQ) MI6 was deeply suspicious of BP’s mathematicians - like Alan Turing. ASA Briggs - himself a self-made intellect (Yorkshire Grammar School educated - then Oxford) typified the 8000 or so BP employees spread out across BP and the huts (3 and 8 being the most secretive and important).

This distrust fed through to the army - whose Non-Commissioned Officers stationed at BP would bully the likes of Alan Turing. Many BP employees complained of their living conditions - although one can’t help but take that with a pinch of salt as ASA Briggs goes onto say that a number of BP employees were slightly wet “young ladies looking to marry intelligent army officers, and young single men flirting with pretty women”.

The general rule of thumb of supplying information to Whitehall was “nothing should be neglected if there was the faint possibility that it could prove of importance to someone” - even if it conflicted with earlier information.

When the war ended - a number of BP employees became teachers, researchers or civil servants, or stayed on as intelligence Corps officers helping prosecute war crimes etc. As for ASA his parents died without knowing their sons contribution to the war effort - before he went on to become a historian and then a Lord.

[John Gribbin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very frustrating book, not through any fault of the author but because of the crazy level of secrecy that surrounded the code breaking work at Bletchley Park for decades. It is not so much "too little, too late", as "not enough, not soon enough". Briggs is a historian, and if he had been allowed to write about his wartime work and colleagues fifty years ago when his memory was fresh and many of those colleagues were around to interview, he could have produced a definitive work. As it is, this represents the "what little I remember" reminiscences of an old man. A very nice 0ld man, who writes very well, but still. Even so, this is essential reading for Bletchley nerds like myself, and fills in some of the background not covered in other books. If you have not read anything else on the subject, though, this is not the place to start.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amiable ramble round the times and personalities of Bletchley Park. While there are few technicalities - mathematicians and cryptographers should look elsewhere - it does fill in some of the background colour missed by other accounts. Excellent bibliography.

[Julie Berry]

very dull

[Kate Millin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book got more interesting towards the end as it starting becoming more narrative and less bibliography and history essay. It is about the people who were at Bletchley and not the detail of the work that they did.

When I started reading this I was reminded of my history teacher in school - Mr Mumford - who taught us to start by saying what we are going to say and finish by recapping what you have said and summarise the conclusions. The first chapter in this book is mainly telling us what he is going to write about, and this referring to what he will and has said continues throughout the book. It felt very oxbridge orientated as each person is introduced by the college(s) or private schools they are linked to or comments when people were not connected to the colleges.

Despite this I found it interesting, especially the later chapters and the selective chronology at the end and it made me want to visit Bletchley Park again.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read other books about Bletchley Park which help the reader feel closer to the action. One problem is that the sentences are so often in the passive voice. Briggs describes events, but the narrative is not anecdotal. Both these attributes distance the reader from a "being there" feeling. Much time is spent describing people in terms of their future jobs, what they went on to be after the war. There was often a "name-dropping" quality to these sentences. The book is very tightly organized, with much interspersion of what he mentioned in a previous chapter or what he will talk about further in a future chapter. I would like to have known more about his interactions with the people he met and not just descriptions about how long everyone kept the secret of what their war work was. I got the feeling that even more than 65 years later, he felt just a bit guilty about revealing all he knew and so kept his distance and tried not to say too much. Still keeping the secrets of Enigma.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not what you would call an entertaining book. It was written by an academic in typically academic prose and for one, like me, who has not been to university, I did not appreciate all the careers in academia and their names. Conversely, as a service child, I do have a handle on Army and, to a lesser extent, Naval and Airforce ranks which were more briefly introduced! I certainly know what an RSM is!

I was disappointed that even after all this time since WW2, I was not able to learn from this book more of what I do not know of what went on in Bletchley Park. There was a great deal of 'chat' about who was around and what University or even college or public school they were educated in but little of what they actually did when the got there. I certainly wasn't told anything about "code-breaking in Bletchley Park" which is a sub-title to the book.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

It pains me to give a low score to a book written by someone with such honourable service to his country, but unfortunately I found this book impossible to read. There is probably a good book somewhere in the author's mind but this title is in desperate need of some brutal editing.

It's a bit of a rambling memoir where various people's names thrown at you with little to no explanation as to who they are or what role they play in the story. The flow regularly goes off on random tangents with no relevance to the story of Bletchly Park, and the first chapter is basically just a massive list of other academic works on the subject that the author has read.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A clear and precise history but without any flair or colour, making an inspirational subject mundane. It is made difficult to read by its complacency and privilege, hopefully attitudes now fading into the past. My friend Dr Sue Black gets just recognition in the final chapter for her contribution to saving Bletchley Park and envisioning a new future for this very special place.

[David Bisset · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a very satisfactory account of Bletchley Park. It is not without merit, but is strangely structured with a plethora of personal names. A disappointment.

[Susan Grimshaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heavy weather to rea,d but some interesting snippets of insight into this remarkable place.

[Alan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rambling catalog of names and schools and colleges they attended. Hard to know who would be interested.

[David Highton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disappointed in this book - not much about codebreaking

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written account of life at Bletchley Park when the Enigma code was being broken. The author joined in 1943 and became an important cog in the wheel in Hut Six and he describes life working alongside such as Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman. The camaraderie among the workers was amazing and the secrecy required was strictly adhered to because, as the author states, anything other would have been catastrophic for the war effort.

The introduction sets the scene with some historical background and the final chapter reveals how The Bletchley Trust works to keep the name and history of this important place alive.

[Yzabel Ginsberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but found it hard at times to get into. I wouldn't recommend reading it if you're tired or not focused—if it's the case, wait until a better moment. There's plenty of interesting information in it, that made me want to really peruse the matter (and add more to read to my eternally growing pile of books...); but the author tends to jump from memory to memory at times, which means that if you're not focused on his train of thought, you might get a little lost along the way.

[Andy Holdcroft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Touched on a number of most interesting points which other books on BP fail to but it was a bit hard to follow at times with tangents off & personal ramblings: surprised at the looseness of the text for such a great historian. Worth reading but could have been even better. The editor presumably was too much in awe...

[Eugenia Andino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boooooring. The book assumes you're already familiar with the topic, and mixes biography, history, and bibliography in a way that's inaccessible to anyone who has never read about Word War Two intelligence. To avoid.

[Ceri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this very interesting.