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The Spies of Winter

The GCHQ Codebreakers Who Fought the Cold War

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The Spies of Winter

By: Sinclair McKay
Narrated by: Charles Armstrong
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About this listen

After the Second World War, many of the men and women who had worked at Bletchley Park moved on to GCHQ: the British government's new facility established to fight the KGB. The Spies of Winter explores the early years of GCHQ as it navigated its way through a tumultuous era - from the defection of the Cambridge Five and the treachery of atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs to the collapse of the British Empire and the emergence of the US as a superpower. This is the story of the codebreakers themselves, and how they expanded the horizons of cryptography, helping to defend the nation and maintain the fragile peace in a world now under the shadow of nuclear holocaust.

©2017 Sinclair McKay (P)2017 Oakhill Publishing 20th Century Air Forces Armed Forces Europe Military Modern War Espionage Imperialism Russia Soviet Union Imperial Japan Middle East Cold War Holocaust British Empire Self-Determination Iran Interwar Period

Critic reviews

''As he has proved before, Sinclair McKay has no peers when it comes to the history of Bletchley Park - and its aftermath. Lucid, well-researched and rich in detail, The Spies of Winter is a valuable addition to the genre.'' ( Daily Mail)
''It is a neglected period in popular history and McKay does well to bring it to life...a readable canter over the ground for anyone unfamiliar with one of the important ways in which the second world war shaped - and continues to shape - our modern world'' ( The Spectator)
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I bought this on the back of Transcription by Kate Atkinson. I did a little digging into the the plot of that book & up popped this one. It's simply brilliant. The detail is expertly divulged & provides a fabulous bridge between the Bletchley Park of WWII & the GCHQ we know today.

The narration is solid & easy to take in. This is a must for anyone interested in espionage.

A Truly Fascinating Tale

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Very good piece of writing that brings us through the dangerous years when we stood at the brink many times. Brave people don't always carry guns.

The war that never ends

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