Winter Talk – ‘How we nearly lost the cipher war against the Germans.’

Sir Dermot Turing Bt

Everyone knows the story of Enigma and secret codebreaking in the Second World War: the triumph of Bletchley Park over world-class cipher technology.  Dermott Turing will speak about British communications security – or rather the lack of it – in WW2.  Nobody knows about this near-disaster which cost thousands of Allied lives.   Excellence in codebreaking was nearly betrayed by incompetence in codemaking.  German codebreakers were effective and Allied codes and ciphers were weak. With both sides reading each other’s codes, the biggest secret of all – that the codes had been broken – was now at risk.  Sooner or later, on one side or the other, the cipher failures would become known, the systems would be changed and the most valuable source of intelligence would dry up.  The Germans demanded that the traitors be rooted out; the British stifled cipher questions beneath a tangle of committees.  The codebreakers’ contest became a struggle to lose the cipher war.  From the very outset, the Enigma secret was one of treachery, betrayal and deception. This is the story of the people who fought behind the scenes for cipher security – and of the Enigma traitors.

Sir Dermott Turing’s book on this subject is called ‘Enigma Traitors’, published in 2023 and he will be doing a book-signing after his talk.

About the Speaker

Sir John Dermot Turing is a solicitor and author.  He was educated at Sherborne School and King’s College, Cambridge before undertaking a doctorate at New College, Oxford.  He then moved into the legal profession.  In 2012, the centenary year of his uncle Alan Turing’s birth, Dermot Turing became a trustee of Bletchley Park.  He has written several other books on his uncle.  ‘X, Y and Z’, published in 2018 covers how Enigma was really broken.  Whilst we rightly celebrate what happened at Bletchley Park, their success was built on an international foundation and this is the prequel to the Bletchley story.  He has written two further books: one a straight biography (Alan Turing Decoded) and another is more of a myth-buster (Reflections of Alan Turing).

Ticket Application

Timings – All talks will take place in The Colours’ Room located in The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Museum, Kings Old Building, Stirling Castle. Lectures will begin at 11.00am, last one hour with refreshments from 10.30am and after the event.

Tickets – Tickets are £12 each and can be purchased at the bottom of this page. There is no need to buy an additional Stirling Castle ticket.

Parking – If you wish to park on the Esplanade you will have to purchase a parking ticket. We are not able to reserve any parking and this will be charged at £4 per car. Free parking may be available on Ballengeich Pass/Upper Castlehill Road – please note there may be timed restrictions for these areas.

Further Information- If you require further information, please email the museum team at museum@argylls.co.uk