How the Nazis were fooled by a cracking read

Saturday January 09 2016

How the Nazis were fooled by a cracking read
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Magnus Linklater

Magnus Linklater finds that a popular novel written by his father was
used by spies to hide a top secret code

In 1943, a secret code was developed at Bletchley Park =97 the centre of
Britain=92s wartime decoding operation =97 to allow messages to be exchan=
ged=20
with the country=92s agents abroad.

To ensure that it was unbreakable, the spymasters picked a popular novel=20
of the day to conceal the code, on the ground that no one seen carrying=20
the book would be regarded as suspicious.

The novel they chose to monitor operations in Spain and North Africa =97
as the latest issue of the Bletchley Park Magazine reveals =97 was writte=
n=20
by my father.

"Poet=92s Pub", by Eric Linklater, had first been published in 1929....


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/defence/article4660673.ece

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/01041/ef034ec2-b613-11e5=
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http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/01041/0ea13a32-b614-11e5=
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http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/01041/05f02e62-b627-11e5=
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