The history of Bletchley Park and the code breaking successes of World War 2 are well known now. But very little has been told of the story of those that collected the intercepts from listening stations around the world.

Using a raft of personal anecdotes and memories from people who worked for Y Service, McKay brings together all of these into a potted history of this unheard of service. From the teenage volunteers listening in their front rooms to the uniformed staff listening at the front line, all of these fed the data and transcripts into the machine that Bletchley became. As they were spread all over the world, some had really nice placements in Pacific islands others were in less savoury places, having to destroy equipment prior to retreating quickly as the front line changed.

A fascinating history and collection of stories from a very secretive organisation that was really only formally acknowledged in 2009. ( )