Your two correspondents (Engineers, linguists and other heroes, Letters, 22 November) rightly appeal for more praise for others at Bletchley Park during the war. Alan Turing was certainly not the only golden pebble on the Bletchley beach. More than a third of my book Bletchley Park: An Inmate’s Story was composed of nearly 50 short biographies of most of those whose work led to cryptographic successes and of those whose study of decrypted German messages provided commanders in the field with vital intelligence. Sadly I could not include those like Peter Calvocoressi and Mavis Batey and others who were living when my book was published in 2008 and have died since. Now in my 101st year, I cannot complete the biographical record. But I hope that somebody will.
James (Jimmy) Thirsk
Hadlow, Kent
