A Grand Gossip: the Bletchley Park Diary of Basil Cottle, 1943-45

This is a contemporary diary from Bletchley Park, kept by a man for whom conversation was the essential oil of daily life, both inside and outside the office. Basil Cottle arrived at Bletchley Park in September 1943, after medical discharge from the Army, and stayed on after VE day to work on Albanian, before a long career at the University of Bristol. He records amusing scraps of conversation, arguments won and lost, lunch-time diversions, and a host of detail about getting by in wartime conditions. Cottle, a gifted illustrator, took great delight in drawing fantasy birds for BP colleagues. The book reproduces many of these, and their accompanying comic verses. Produced in association with Bletchley Park. August 2017, 169 pages, illustrated paperback, £14.95, ISBN 978-1-906978-44-0; also available as a hardback, £20.00, ISBN 978-1-906978-45-7.