‘A brilliant and quite fascinating expose of the many myths surrounding Bletchley Park and Turing’ – Michael Smith, author of The Secrets of Station X Early accounts of codebreaking at Bletchley Park during World War II contained many factual errors. This was only natural: many of the authors of these accounts were veterans who did not have access to official records and relied heavily on their own recollection of events that had transpired more than thirty years prior. Over time, historians documenting the history of British intelligence repeated some of the more apocryphal stories. These gradually became part of the mythology surrounding Bletchley Park in print media, as well as in both stage and film productions on the subject over the years until now. In this fascinating work, Joel Greenberg has handpicked twenty of the most common myths associated with Bletchley Park (for example, that thousands of pigeons were used to carry secret messages to British forces in France). The origin of each myth is described in detail, alongside the inaccuracies, secrets and sometimes even lies that have sustained it over the years, before revealing the truth behind each one. This is a wholly unique look at Bletchley Park: no other book on the subject tells its story in this way, and it will be of great value to anyone interested in the world of intelligence work carried out during World War II.
