My new favourite footnote...
Jun. 23rd, 2018 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cyphomandra... is from Between Silk and Cyanide: A Code Maker's War 1941-45, by Leo Marks, recommended by sovay - thanks so much! It's wonderful: compelling, ferociously intelligent, and drily humourous.
Marks is discussing a talk he gave to the new coding recruits from FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry; all female), which was a) notorious (he left them for over an hour in a freezing basement with one chair, recorded their conversation, and then played it back for them to shock them into realise how easily casual conversation could be used against them, and how crucial their secrecy would be in keeping agents safe) and b) recorded in full, his talk included.
sovay - thanks so much! It's wonderful: compelling, ferociously intelligent, and drily humourous.A few years after the war ended (I shan't give away who won it - for those who may not know) the BBC [...] broadcast a tribute to the FANYs...
Marks is discussing a talk he gave to the new coding recruits from FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry; all female), which was a) notorious (he left them for over an hour in a freezing basement with one chair, recorded their conversation, and then played it back for them to shock them into realise how easily casual conversation could be used against them, and how crucial their secrecy would be in keeping agents safe) and b) recorded in full, his talk included.
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Date: 2018-06-23 01:58 am (UTC)Yay!
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Date: 2018-06-23 04:30 am (UTC)