Dr Hannah Fry: Codebreaker

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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Dr Hannah Fry: Codebreaker

Dr Hannah Fry brings you the best in codes, ciphers and secrets from the BBC Radio archive

Dr Hannah Fry hacks into the BBC archive to unearth a fascinating selection of programmes about the shadowy world of codes, secret messages and encryption.

* This programme was to have been broadcast on Saturday 10th September but was postponed following the death of Her Majesty The Queen. *

Dr Hannah Fry delves into the BBC Radio Archive to uncover a fascinating selection of programmes all about codes, secrets and ciphers. 

As a mathematician, Hannah specialises in understanding patterns of human behaviour. 

And nowhere does the human factor smash headlong into the reality of numbers than in the secretive world of code-breaking. 

Have a pen and paper handy as she'll be giving you a code to try and crack, offering hints which will help throughout the programme. 

She’s being helped by two experts who between them have got numbers and words covered: 

*  Bobby Seagull - Maths teacher and author of The Life-changing Magic of Numbers.
*  Richard Rogan - Editor of The Times Cryptic Crossword. 

They'll share their insights into codes, and give their takes on Hannah's fascinating selection from the archive: 

*  A creepy delve into the world of Cold War number stations - Simon Fanshawe investigates in ‘TRACKING THE LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER’. 

*  David Baddiel tries to understand Cryptic Crosswords. 

*  A famous example of a literary code in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story ‘THE ADVENTURE OF THE DANCING MEN’, adapted by Bert Coules. 

*  In ‘THE BLETCHLEY GIRLS’, Tessa Dunlop tracks the stories of some of the often side-lined women at the codebreaking station Bletchley Park in the Second World War, 

*  In a special episode of ‘THE INFINITE MONKEY CAGE’, Katy Brand joins the team in the security agency GCHQ to talk ciphers. 

So, pens at the ready. Listen out for the clues - and get cracking. 

Producer: Kevin Core

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in February 2020.

Image credit: Paul Wilkinson

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