Bletchley Park is remembered as a land of male intellectuals who were supported by a staff of women in menial roles, with figures such as Alan Turing and William F. Friedman taking center stage. The men who worked on the fearsome Enigma and Purple ciphering systems. So obviously, it was the men who helped sway the course of the war in the Allies’ favor.
But this is not the whole story. Women were not just secretaries and assistants: they had serious full-on codebreaking roles. And this was not just at Bletchley, or in the UK, or even only in the Second World War. American women like Agnes Driscoll and Mary C. Lane did codebreaking during the war, as did Ann Caracristi and Elizebeth Friedman. Yet, when the histories were written, the women got left out. Who were they? What did they achieve? How did they ‘vanish’? Find out tonight, as codebreaking historian and Spy Museum Honorary Board Member Dermot Turing turns the spotlight on some of the long-ignored women featured in his new book Misread Signals: How History Overlooked Women Codebreakers.
Following his presentation, the audience will have a chance to ask their own questions.
Misread Signals will be available for sale and signing at the program and online.
The in-person event will have open seating available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Assistive listening devices will be available for the in-person program.
Auto-generated closed captioning will be available for this program when viewed online.
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