Gordon Welchman: Bletchley Park's Architect of Ultra Intelligence

(Paperback)

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A magnificent biography which finally provides recognition to one of Bletchley's and Britain's lost heroes. The Official Secrets Act and the passing of time have prevented the Bletchley Park story from being told by many of its key participants. Here at last is a book which allows some of them to speak for the first time. Gordon Welchman was one of the Park's most important figures. Like Turing, his pioneering work was fundamental to the success of Bletchley Park and helped pave the way for the birth of the digital age. Yet, his story is largely unknown to many. His book, The Hut Six Story, was the first to reveal not only how they broke the codes, but how it was done on an industrial scale. Its publication created such a stir in GCHQ and the NSA that Welchman was forbidden to discuss the book or his wartime work with the media.In order to finally set the record straight, Bletchley Park historian Joel Greenberg has drawn on Welchman's personal papers and correspondence with wartime colleagues which lay undisturbed in his son's loft for many years. Packed with fascinating new insights, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the clandestine activities at Bletchley Park. AUTHOR: Joel Greenberg is an educational technology consultant who researches and writes about Bletchley Park and its role in WWII. As a volunteer supporter of Bletchley Park, he gives lectures and conducts tours of the site. He is also a part-time member of its management team. SELLING POINTS: . The untold story of one of Bletchley Park's less-celebrated geniuses . Sets the record straight about the wartime contributions of Denniston, Knox and the Polish codebreakers . Tells the extraordinary story behind the publication of Welchman's book 16 images

Reviews

"There have been several books about what went on at Bletchley Park in the past few years, in fact there is another title from Pen and Sword on this page, concerning the amazing exploits of Jenny Nater. There is no doubt that the most high profile of these operatives was Alan Turing, who featured in the recent brilliant film The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch; and various news items on our local news have featured interviews with old ladies who once worked on the codes at Bletchley Park, people who were not even allowed to tell their closest family members what they were doing. Joel Greenberg's bookabout Gordon Welchman reveals a man equally as fascinating equally as important as Turing, and tells us even more about what went on in this most secret of establishments during the war years."-- "Books Monthly"

Author Bio

Dr Joel Greenberg is an author and historian. He received his PhD in Numerical Mathematics from the University of Manchester (UMIST) in 1973. He worked for the Open University for over 33 years, and held a number of senior management positions at Director level. He has written the authorised biographies of two key figures in the story of signals intelligence, Gordon Welchman and Alastair Denniston. The Welchman book, Gordon Welchman, Bletchley Parks Architect of Ultra Intelligence, is the basis of a joint BBC/Smithsonian Network 2015 documentary about Welchman The Forgotten Genius of Bletchley Park. The Denniston book, Alastair Denniston, Code-breaking from Room 40 to Berkeley Street and the Birth of GCHQ, is both a biography and an account of signals intelligence from its early development to the birth of GCHQ. Denniston was the first Head of GCHQ and the book was launched at its headquarters on 7 September 2017 in honour of him.