Codebreakers – Arthur Hofn

It’s Finally Happened!

I no longer live in Milton Keynes but woe betide anyone who mocks it in front of me. I grew up there, it’s one of two places I consider important to enough to call home, where I feel substantially I became me, the other is Dublin. (The only reason I can’t say I was born there is because at the time the hospital was elsewhere).

Last week Milton Keynes became a City. I mean officially; we, the people who knew better, always accepted it as a city, and not just because of the local vocabulary. If you are going to the area designated as Central Milton Keynes, locals have always said ‘I’m going up the city.’ In the past the council had tried several times to get city status whenever the bidding was open, but had be denied. This was confusing when we saw what places had won out, but still we carried on. Milton Keynes functions as a city, we wanted the title but even without it we knew.

There are many innovations that make this place special, to name just a few we have robots deliver our food to our doors, yes we really do, we have balancing lakes (look it up), all those roundabouts do serve a purpose (no it doesn’t all look the same) and I am very fond of the Concrete Cows; that’s on top of all the history (yes there is so don’t argue), as I said, woe betide…

Of course that doesn’t stop people who don’t “get” the city from making fun of it, but it doesn’t matter, if they spent any decent time there they would change their minds…

For as much as it is a city, it feels like the country easily, woodland, parks, waterways and just greenery everywhere, I still find it odd that this is in the minority compared to other places. It’s a wonderful place to live. If I hadn’t grown up there and moved on I’d be happy to be living there, but for me progression and geography are closely linked.

This is a literary blog. I’ve often considered writing a novel set in my home city. I’ve written one set in my other home, Dublin, and I’m very proud of Framed Of Rathgar, but I’ve not got round to the place where I grew up yet. I’m working on it, but I have many locations I want to set a novel so it’s just which idea bubbles up to the surface at the right time and then works! The thing is if you set a novel in Milton Keynes, because it is a unique place, it can’t just be any story that would work anywhere, there is so much you should be able to do with this landscape.

So if I’ve not done it, have others written a book set there? The answer is “yes”. I’ve only read two of them and there is a reason for that. One is dreadful and I don’t think the author had actually been to the place he was writing about, I guess as it was a “wacky” kind of book he did it as a joke. But the book was bad and this is about promoting books I like so we shall speak no more of it.

The other is a factual history book based on one of the city’s greatest assets, Bletchley Park. Here is where the famous Codebreakers and Colossus machines worked in secret during the Second World War, one more event coinciding with so much history (see my previous post, and I will stop writing about World War Two soon, just a coincidence).

Bletchley Park, and Alan Turning are prime candidates to be written about; there is so much to say, so there is a wealth of books about the subject. Here is a confession: I grew up very close to Bletchley Park, I went to school even closer and yet I have never set foot inside the grounds. I want to, but it wasn’t until I moved away that I really understood the significance and when you’re living in Dublin brief trips back fill up quickly. Then I moved back to England and although Milton Keynes is not too far from where I now live, because it’s close it’s one of those things I’ll get round to. My solution? Read a book about it.

The one I chose was called Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park by Michael Smith. I went with this book as it proudly states it is a “No 1 Sunday Times Bestseller” on the cover and I wanted something that had the history and the facts, but no fiction or opinion, this ticked the boxes. Clearly written in chronological order and including first hand accounts from the people who worked there, it’s is perfectly pitched so as not to overwhelm the reader or feel too basic. I read it years ago in Dublin, I’d take it to work and it started many an interesting conversation.

“Imagine my surprise when several weeks later, I received a letter marked ‘Confidential’ inviting me, as a consequence of taking part in ‘the Daily Telegraph Crossword Time Test’, to make an appointment to see Colonel Nicholas of the General Staff who ‘would very much like to see you on a matter of national importance.'” – Stanley Sedgewick.
― Michael Smith, Station X

Of course when you have something like Bletchley Park that is what writers are going focus on, so finding books not connected is hard. I’ve had a search, there are some fantasy novels, but these are not my thing. This is shame, as I said above there are many things I sure a writer could do with Milton Keynes, but then again I haven’t, and I’m from there.

I could be wrong, there may be a plethora of books that the local bookshops advertise, I just can’t find them on a Google search and because I moved away a long time ago I don’t go to the local bookshops where they would know.

Writing this blog has made me determined to do three things. 1) Visit Bletchley Park. 2) Write a book set in my home city. 3) Search harder for books by others who have. Feel free to leave suggestions of ones I’ve missed below.

But over all I’m just very pleased we did it and all those signs that for years have said “The Borough And New City Of Milton Keynes” have finally been accepted for their statement.

Buy Station X – by Michael Smith