Your report on Bletchley Park’s female codebreakers refers to Jane Monroe’s standard reply when asked what she did during the war: “Oh, I made the tea” (Cambridge college unmasks alumnae who were Bletchley Park codebreakers, 17 March). My mother also worked in Hut 6, and my sisters and I were always intrigued by her reply to the same war question: “I made the tea … for Kim Philby.” Presumably, “I made the tea” was a recommended reply. Why my mother added the little “enigma” about Philby remains unknown, though he was in the news at the time. She would have loved the reminiscences now being publicised and would have added to them, but she died in 1991 when it was still largely unacceptable to talk about Bletchley Park experiences.
Sue Wells
Cambridge
My parents met at Bletchley. My mother (Eleanor Clark) had studied French and German at Newnham College, and my father (the art historian Giles Robertson) spoke Italian. They were quite cagey about exactly what they did there because of secrecy. They did say that a memo came round once telling them that if they were asked what they were doing at Bletchley they should reply (“with a gay reticence”): “Oh, just work.”
Roger Robertson
Edinburgh
Monday 18 March 2024 was a memorable day for me. I received the “confirmation of award” of a doctorate from UCL. It marked the successful completion of eight years of work studying the neglected field of adult/further education. I am now 76 years old.
Coincidentally, the Guardian played a part in my celebratory day. On page 21 there was the glorious photograph of the fellows of Newnham College in 1936, including my grandmother, Margaret McFie. She was the domestic bursar, universally known at the time as steward. She had abandoned her own academic career to take up war work for the Serbian Relief Fund after the first world war. As a young widow with two children to support, she trained in domestic management. In the second world war she took a leading role in planning the response at Newnham, including a night-watch rota and cultivation of the gardens. She is standing at the far right of the back row of this image, looking wonderfully elegant and composed. I was so pleased to see her!
Also in that paper was the obituary of Charlotte Benton. Charlotte was the co-creator of the remarkable Open University course A305 History of Architecture and Design 1890-1939, which I happily taught for several years. Good to see the course celebrated on my own special day!
Judith Rose
Alderton, Suffolk