Fwd: Why Bletchley Park codebreakers were encouraged to fall in love

Wednesday 28 June 2017

Why Bletchley Park codebreakers were encouraged to fall in love
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By Olivia Rudgard, Social Affairs Correspondent

Bletchley Park's codebreakers were actively encouraged to fall in love
with each other because authorities thought it would help the war
effort, a historian has revealed.

The Second World War base has become legendary for its success at
dismantling German and Japanese codes, which is thought to have
shortened the war by two years and saved thousands of lives.

But it was also "stuffed" with blossoming romances - which, far from
being frowned upon, were encouraged by the park's directors, according
to a leading historian.

Speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival, Sinclair McKay said that
his interviews with the codebreakers who worked there revealed that the
Buckinghamshire base had been a "hotbed of romance".

Mr McKay said the British female codebreakers were captivated by the
American cryptographers who came to help dismantle Nazi Germany's famous
enigma code.

"The cliches really are true - British women, and Bletchley's women were
no exception, were bowled over by the influx of American men," he said.

Mr McKay explained how tight security protocols meant each individual
codebreaker had little sense of the wider context of their work.



Each "hut" did not communicate with those in other groups for fear of
spreading information that could allow an individual to become too
well-informed.

But these strict rules did not prevent lovers from different huts from
developing relationships.

On the contrary, Mr McKay said his research had found that the park's
directors fed blossoming romances in an effort to keep codebreakers
happy and healthy.

One famous couple who met there, Mavis Lever and Keith Batey, were even
given a dedicated area of the canteen where they could canoodle.

Ms Lever, who later became Mrs Batey when the couple married, was an
accomplished linguist whose talent with the German language led her to
work at Bletchley.

At the age of just 19 she made a significant breakthrough, breaking into
the Italian Naval Enigma system and uncovering a plan to attack a Royal
Navy convoy.



Mr McKay said: "I asked Keith and Mavis Batey, whose eyes met across the
Enigma machine, whether the authorities were concerned about their
romance, because they worked in different huts, were they worried there
might be accidental crossover [of information].

"And Mrs Batey said actually no, the authorities did everything in their
power to encourage the romance, to the extent of setting up special
places in the canteen for them.

"I think they felt that romance was a healthy thing, and it was
fantastic to have that in such a pressurised environment. So while there
was security there was also a very real understanding of human
psychology and human needs.

"The romances would make your head spin - the park was stuffed with them".

At its peak around 10,000 people worked at Bletchley Park, 75 per cent
of whom were women......


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/28/bletchley-park-codebreakers-encouraged-fall-love/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2017/06/28/mavis-keith-batey-large_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwQslGh5rYZIQJoQFH_Hty40.jpg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2017/06/28/TELEMMGLPICT000028222294-large_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQfyf2A9a6I9YchsjMeADBa08.jpeg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2017/06/28/mavis-batey-large_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqM37qcIWR9CtrqmiMdQVx7Ed1V4Edl8yfLWDiksarZnk.jpg


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/11308744/The-extraordinary-female-codebreakers-of-Bletchley-Park.html