Bletchley Park Week: The Truth Behind the Myths: Women and Bletchley Park

We are pleased to welcome you to join us for this lecture and panel discussion as part of our Bletchley Park Week events.

In this session, historian and Kellogg College Official Fellow and Vice President, Professor Yasmin Khan, speaks with award-winning author Sir Dermot Turing, Bletchley Park historian Dr David Kenyon, and bestselling author Michael Smith about their research and numerous books on women at Bletchley Park.

Chair: 

Yasmin Khan is a historian and writer, and Professor of Modern History based in the Department for Continuing Education and a member of the History Faculty. Her research focuses on the history of the British in India, the British Empire, South Asian decolonization, refugees and the aftermath of empire. She has also written about the Second World War and the imperial dimensions of the conflict.

Speakers:

Dermot Turing is the award-winning author of X, Y and Z – the real story of how Enigma was broken and Enigma Traitors, which reveals the failings of Allied cipher security during World War II. He has written numerous other books relating to his famous uncle Alan Turing, code-breaking and computing history. He is also a regular speaker at historical and other events. He began writing in 2014 after a career in law, principally at the international law firm Clifford Chance. As well as writing and speaking, Dermot is a trustee of the National Museum of Computing and a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, Oxford.

David Kenyon is the author of Bletchley Park and D-Day, and Arctic Convoys and the War for the Seas. He is responsible for historical research in support of all public content at Bletchley Park, the World War Two codebreaking site in Buckinghamshire, now a museum. This includes exhibition material as well as visitor tours, web information and broadcast items. He also appears as a spokesman for Bletchley Park on TV and radio. Dr Kenyon was formerly an Associate Lecturer at Brunel University where he taught military history.

Michael Smith is a number one bestselling author and award winning journalist. He is an expert on special operations and intelligence, and has a track record of breaking stories previously kept top secret. His numerous books on intelligence and special operations include The Secrets of Station X: How Bletchley Park Helped Win the War, which is widely seen as the definitive history of Bletchley Park; Killer Elite: America’s Most Secret Special Operations Team; Six: The Real James Bonds; and The Debs of Bletchley Park.

This in-person event is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served from 5.00 pm, followed by the talk at 5.30 pm. There will be a Q&A session after the talk, and a drinks reception.

Bletchley Park Week:

This event is part of our annual Bletchley Park Week programme of events celebrating a partnership between Oxford and Bletchley Park. This year’s event is entitled ‘Women at Bletchley’.

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Please note:

This event may be photographed and filmed. If you do not wish to appear in the photographs/footage, please let the photographer/videographer know.

Should you have any further queries, or unable to attend after booking, please contact: events@kellogg.ox.ac.uk.

Open to: the public,