BBC LOOK EAST - THE SECRET LISTENERS (1979)

BBC Look East: The Secret Listeners (1979) Presented by René Cutforth, a WWII veteran and much-loved BBC broadcaster, this classic 1979 BBC Look East documentary outlines the secret work of the 'Voluntary Interceptors' (VIs) who were recruited by MI5 to intercept, listen to and transcribe German radio traffic. Their transcriptions, passed to Bletchley Park for decoding and interpretation, played a crucial role in the Allied war effort. Active from 1939 these VIs were amateur-radio enthusiasts ('hams'), to whom Morse code was second nature. These individuals were very adept at recovering weak signals from the noise - and relished the technical challenges involved. The value of such a project (officially-known as MI8c, or the RSS - 'Radio Security Service') was quickly recognised when the threat posed by enemy spies passing information to Germany via wireless was discussed during an internal MI5 meeting. They recalled the success of the 'Hippisley Hut' in Norfolk, a 'listening post' for German naval and Zeppelin wireless traffic that had been established by the Admiralty during WWI following the suggestion of two early hams (callsigns THX and HLX). As the programme reveals, the intelligence gathered by the operatives working there proved to be invaluable during the Battle of Jutland. In 1916, wireless was in its infancy (and the few 'hams' - here in the UK, under 2,000 - then in existence had already dismantled their equipment for inspection, and possibly removal, by the Post Office as a wartime precaution). Twenty years later, radio was an important feature of daily life. Amateur radio had become far more popular as a hobby and so the pool of talent - potentially an 'asset to the country' - was by then much greater. Candidates were carefully-vetted by MI5's Lord Sandhurst, who at the time had an office in Wormwood Scrubs prison. Helping him in this task was Arthur Egerton Watts, a WWI naval officer who had served in the Admiralty's naval intelligence division but - between 1938 and 1940 - just happened to be the civilian president of the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain) amateur radio organisation. By the end of the war, a scattered network of around 1,500 VIs was operating from "garden sheds and rooms". They initially used their own equipment, although 'rather primitive' 1-valve sets were later issued to VIs by the RSS (by then, part of MI6). Some of the more effective VIs ended up in the Royal Signals Corps, working in newly-commissioned 24/7 intercept stations like Hanslope Park, not far from Bletchley. Much of the traffic they intercepted was encrypted (using Enigma), but a VI's job was to log those apparently-meaningless 5-character groups to the best of his ability. This work, rather than finding German spies (few of whom were ever caught), proved the real value of the VIs. A fascinating programme, and one that doesn't - unlike the dumbed-down gee-whiz celebrity-fronted crap that passes for documentaries nowadays - insult the intelligence of the viewer. Those interviewed in The Secret Listeners were themselves VIs, and - like Cutforth (who died in 1984) - have long since passed away. Thanks, then, to the BBC of the time for having the wisdom to ensure that their story was captured for posterity. Restored from a well-preserved VHS using my RealityRegen process. Keywords: Cutforth, WWII, war, veteran, BBC broadcaster, 1979, Look East, documentary, military, intelligence, Enigma, cryptography, code, Bletchley Park, spy, spies, espionage, deception, Voluntary Interceptor, VI, MI5, MI8c, RSS, Radio Security Service, Royal Signals Corps, Hanslope Park, radio, wireless, amateur radio, RSGB, ham, Morse code, Hippisley, Zeppelin, Jutland, Lord Sandhurst, Wormwood Scrubs, Operation Mincemeat, D-Day, Cicero Affair