Thirty Secret Years (signed by author)

Robin Denniston

ISBN 10: 0955364809 / ISBN 13: 9780955364808

Published by Polperro Heritage Press, Worcestershire, 2007

About this Item

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Book signed by author with an inscription to previous owner.
"Thirty Secret Years" reveals how an enterprising Scottish linguist was able to decipher German naval messages in the Admiralty in World War One. Alastair Denniston became head of the British government's cabinet noir or cipher-breaking bureau in 1919, developed his team of fellow experts between the wars by spying on the Soviets from Whitehall. In 1939, he went on to lead an enlarged body of secret service men and women to Bletchley Park where they solved the vast problems of machine encipherment, enabling Churchill to avoid defeat in 1941 and invade Western Europe in June 1944. It is the story of how one man, working in obscurity and total secrecy, influenced the course of world history over 30 years of war and peace, told by his son.

Seller Inventory # 00050

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Thirty Secret Years (signed by author)
• Publisher: Polperro Heritage Press, Worcestershire
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0955364809
• ISBN 13: 9780955364808
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Dimensions: 15.5W x 23.5H x 0D centimeters 15.5 centimeters width by 23.5 centimeters height by 0 centimeters depth
• Weight: 322 grams
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • 1st edition
  • 1st printing
  • signed books

About this title

Synopsis

"Thirty Secret Years" reveals how an enterprising Scottish linguist was able to decipher German naval messages in the Admiralty in World War One. Alastair Denniston became head of the British government's cabinet noir or cipher-breaking bureau in 1919, developed his team of fellow experts between the wars by spying on the Soviets from Whitehall. In 1939, he went on to lead an enlarged body of secret service men and women to Bletchley Park where they solved the vast problems of machine encipherment, enabling Churchill to avoid defeat in 1941 and invade Western Europe in June 1944. It is the story of how one man, working in obscurity and total secrecy, influenced the course of world history over 30 years of war and peace, told by his son.

About the Author

Robin Denniston has been a publisher all his working life. Starting as a trainee in Collins's Glasgow factory in 1950, he moved to work as an editor in their London office until 1958 when after a short period in a small religious press he joined Hodder and Stoughton as promotion manager, rising to become editorial and then managing director there. In 1974 he left Hodders to become Deputy Chairman of Weidenfeld and Nicolson, and 18 months later he was headhunted by the Thomson group to take charge of their book publishing activities - Nelson, Michael Joseph, Hamish Hamilton, Rainbird and Sphere paperbacks. He left Thomson in 1978, the year of his ordination as deacon in the church of England, to become academic publisher at Oxford University Press, additionally taking charge of the general and reference division which published the Oxford dictionaries. He retired in 1989