Dilly: The Man Who Broke Enigmas

They bang on about turin and how he was subsequently treated for homosexuality after all he did for the war effort etc etc. This book explains how a man with a natural ability to fill in gaps helped everyone. I am personally saddened that the media and press think bletchley park/turin. Dilly was the man as much as turin and all at bletchley park were great at what they did despite eccentricities. Mavis has done a wonderful job at capturing a unique moment in the cottage and bletchley park. The abwer code, who else could have cracked it except for a team of fantastic minds and dilly looking for the lobster and not the crab. The book itself from the opening chapter where Mavis confirms an italian admiral had not been seduced by a mysterious female agent and that she was on deck to decipher the message through the bletchley park system to absolve and clear the families name, its a totally captivating book. Tracing the real history of the enigma machine and the roles the polish and french played in it all. We could even now turn to tommy flowers for a bit of contemplation. Thankyou Mavis Batey may you rest in peace.

As herself an important member of Bletchley Park in the war years the author was able to do justice to the complexity of much of the cypher/ code-breaking material. Also, she introduced as much personal experience of others relevant to Knox as was apparently available to try to bring him to life. Having said that it would appear that for long periods there wasn't much evidence to go on and the picture of his life and understanding of his enigmatic character was therefore somewhat incomplete. I feel that I know better who he was and the contribution he undoubtedly made but I wish I knew more.

Most people interested in Bletchley have heard of Alan Turing but Dilly Knox was fundamental to cracking Enigma. His background in decoding ancient papyri gave him enormous ability to see "outside the box" and recognise patterns in German decrypts. It also speaks volumes for the English virtue of recognising genius in the most unlikely of places and allowing it to flourish, hence so many boffins and "odd bods" being employed at Bletchley. Thoroughly recommended.

Great read

Very very interesting. Lots of information.