BREAKING THE ENIGMA CODES – Dr Phil Judkins

Wednesday 16^th April 2008 at 8pm

In World War 2, some of the most gifted people in the UK - some just 18 years old – worked on breaking German secret codes. The most secure of those codes were generated by a machine, called the ENIGMA. The messages it enciphered were used to control the German Air Force and Army, and its submarines (U-boats) fighting the Battle of the Atlantic. Later in the war, even more complicated machines were developed by the Germans for the top security messages of their High Command. Dr Judkins will tell us about how the British, working at first with the Poles and the French, broke the ENIGMA codes, and how the world’s first electronic computer was developed to help them. In a very rare treat, he will bring to SPY SCHOOL one of the very few ENIGMA machines in private ownership in this country.

We are extremely honoured and fortunate to be able to welcome Dr Phil Judkins as a guest speaker during Spy Skool.  Parents and families of students attending Spy Skool are invited to join us for this fascinating evening.  Please contact the Kilve Court Office to reserve places if you would like to attend.

Dr Judkins studied both at Grammar School and Technical College, gaining eight A levels (not all at once!) and graduated from Cambridge in Economics and Classical Archaeology. After working as an archaeologist, he gained a Master’s degree in Business Management from Bradford University, graduating as top of the year. He worked first of all at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, then the Ministry of Defence and a Royal Commission. He presented his first research paper to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) conference in Stresa, Italy, in 1977. Subsequently, he worked for Xerox Corporation on computer networks, gaining their President’s Award for top-performing employees, and then moved to a career in the City of London, retiring in 2002 as a UK Director of the world’s largest insurer, AXA. Since retiring, he researched a Ph D at Cranfield University in the history of radar, and was appointed a Visiting Fellow at the UK’s Defence College, where he works on a number of military projects. He is the author of four books, including work on artificial intelligence and virtual reality.