We mark the beginning of the 2024 season with an online talk given by Dr David Kenyon, Bletchley Park’s research historian.
7.00pm on 26 March by Zoom
ARTIC CONVOYS: BLETCHLEY PARK AND THE WAR FOR THE SEAS.
Dr David Kenyon Bletchley Park’s Research Historian, discusses his new book Arctic Convoys, Bletchley Park and the War for the Seas. In it he examines the role Intelligence from Bletchley Park played in the battles to protect the Allied convoys sailing through the Arctic to Russia between 1941 and 1945. These convoys delivered more than 800 shiploads of supplies to the Soviet Union. Each journey was a battle against the elements, with turbulent seas, extreme cold and the constant dread of torpedoes. The Arctic convoys have been portrayed as defenceless vessels at the mercy of deadly U-boats – but was this really the case? David will discuss the true story of the war in the Arctic, a contest more evenly balanced than previously thought, and describe the vital role played by Bletchley Park in these events.
Dr David Kenyon is responsible for historical research in support of all public content at Bletchley Park, the Second World War code-breaking site in Buckinghamshire, now a museum. This includes exhibition material as well as visitor tours, web information and broadcast items. He also appears as a spokesman for Bletchley Park on TV and radio. He has published two books on BP; Bletchley Park and D-Day in 2019, and Arctic Convoys, Bletchley Park and the War for the Seas in 2023.
He was previously a free-lance military historian and museum consultant and has worked on and appeared in numerous historical TV and film projects. (These include the Trench Detectives series, shown on History channel, and work as Historical Advisor to the Spielberg film production of Warhorse in 2010)
He has previously worked for a number of years as an archaeologist and is one of the UK’s leading experts on the archaeology of the First World War. After attaining his PhD in Military History at UK Defence Academy, he has lectured both at home and abroad, including at various universities, as well as to other groups and societies. His book Digging the Trenches, was published in 2008.
