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Frederick Winterbotham’s The Ultra Secret in 1974, followed by the BBC TV series The Secret
Wa r in 1977 and Gordon Welchman’s controversial book The Hut Six Story: Breaking the
Enigma Codes in 1982—that the story began to come out about Bletchley Park’s boffins and
their behind-the-scenes contribution to the Allied victory. Large amounts of information
remained classified, however, and it was only after a number of key documents emerged into
the light of day, during the period 1996–2000, that the full nature and scope of the Bletchley
Park operation was revealed.
fighting off the property developers
Bletchley Park’s history in the post-war years was relatively undistinguished. Ownership of the
site passed eventually to British Telecom (BT), and the Civil Aviation Authority also used the
site for training purposes. When BT decided to dispose of Bletchley Park in the 1990s devel-
opers showed a keen interest, planning to demolish the existing buildings. Local and central
government raised no objections, since the site’s historical value was unknown.
But before a sale could go through an enterprising local history society arranged for former
wartime staff to visit the mansion en masse.^2 About 400 attended, many expressing anger at the
plans to redevelop the site. The Bletchley Park Trust was established in an attempt to prevent the
sale—although the Trust had no resources at this time, nor any clear idea of what it was going
to do with the 55 acres of land and seventy buildings should it succeed.
In 1992 Milton Keynes Council agreed to make Bletchley Park a conservation area.^3 This,
together with tree preservation orders, helped deter commercial developers. BT decided to
support the trust, and agreed to pay the site’s operating costs until the Trust became financially
viable. It was at this time that the Trust first opened the site to the public, although on a very
limited basis. Optimism was in the air. Over time, volunteers installed exhibits and displays,
all with minimal funding, and everyone involved felt that the site had been saved for posterity.
The site is nearly lost—again
Storm clouds gathered when, after a few years, BT withdrew its financial support: the Trust
now had to take on the site’s huge operating expenses. There was no viable solution in sight and
disaster seemed imminent. The Trust continued to operate as best it could, using its army of vol-
unteers; but it experienced great difficulty in getting potential funders to appreciate Bletchley
Park’s outstanding historical value. The Trust’s vigorous CEO Christine Large returned empty-
handed from a fundraising visit to the United States. Nor could the Trust get its message across
to the UK Government. It was natural to hope for government or local authority funding: muse-
ums typically do not make enough money to cover their costs, so regional museums usually
receive significant support from their local authorities while national museums are supported
by government grants. But Bletchley Park had nothing of that sort: the Trust lurched from one
financial crisis to another.
In fact very little money was raised in the 10 years or so up to 2005; but fortunately the Trust’s
bank permitted the site to remain open while new solutions were sought. When part of the