I wish we had such excellent presenters these days. Instead of pushing himself and his own views, he presented the facts. And what a splendid masculine voice as well. These days the BBC allows presenters and reporters to insinuate their prejudices into what should be factual reporting.
Do not mistake the term 'amateur' for being someone lacking competence. It means they are not allowed to be paid for their services. Radio amateurs have been responsible for great strides in the radio arts and much of our current understanding of atmospheric propagation comes from their efforts over the decades.
As a 'Noun' , Amateur, is meant to imply, someone who is not Paid, for what he /she does, as apposed to someone, who is; So thereby, becoming a 'Professional'. which again, to other's, implies higher ability, so good, they get paid for their services. Over the years, the tag Amateur--ish etc . stated as a 'Adjective', implies substandard, --not good enough, which is subject to opinion. Not surprisingly, upsetting to many.
Absolutely. Literally amateurs should be people who do it for the love of it - think of the difference between sweethearts and whores. Better motivation at least
I used to be a SIGINT operator in the US Army in the 80s & 90s. I worked alongside the British while in West Berlin. We had dealings with all of the other intelligence gatherers, not just those who listened to radios. There has been a stark difference between the Americans & the British in their intelligence gathering. The US has always focused on what new piece of technology can assist them in gathering intelligence while the human factor is just someone to turn on the equipment. Meanwhile the British were excellent in utilizing their best & brightest, even their specially gifted citizens to do intelligence work. One thing I have always admired about the British intelligence community.
It should be known that the presenter of this documentary is Rene Cutforth. He was a well known and distinguished broadcaster and had seen both active service during the second war including several years' as a POW. He reported from wars in Spain, Korea, Malaya and Vietnam and elsewhere. Clive James describes him very well: - Reviewing one of Cutforth's television programmes entitled The Forties Revisited, the critic Clive James wrote in The Observer: "Cutforth is that rare thing, a front man with background. Fitzrovia and Soho weigh heavily on his eye lids. His voice sounds like tea-chests full of books being shifted about."
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, WE SHOULD, HAVE BEEN TOLD WHO THIS GENTLEMAN PRESENTER IS; I RECOGNISE HIM, AND HIS VOICE, FROM MANY YEARS AGO. A LOST GEM I SUPPOSE, NOW.
How wonderful the BBC was before they dumbed down to the point of simply producing drivel for the intellectually challenged. The corporation’s output is now so dreadful that I cancelled my licence ages ago. YT is my go-to watch now.
@@riceuteneuer2678 There is an extreme wealth of useful information to be gained from YT so long as you're willing to apply yourself. The first three links concern data transmission prior to the now ubiquitous ethernet/Internet. Although SONET (3rd link) was originally for bulk transport of toll quality (commercial) long distance phone calls it was pressed into service to support private intranet connections with a minimum data speed in the range of 33Mbps for an OC-1. This was when most local switched networks were running 10/100Mbps. With deep corporate pockets, you could contract for a private OC192c trunk that would support nearly 10Gbps capacity before native long haul optical ethernet became common. Believe it or not, there are still a lot of networks running on SONET transport lines. There are significant equipment costs to migrating customers from still useful legacy transport networks to shiney new native ethernet transport services. The last two links are computer science related. th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=baudot+code th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=ami+b8zs+hdb3 th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=synchronous+optical+network+(sonet)+ and th-cam.com/video/HbgzrKJvDRw/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/channels/YVU6rModlGxvJbszCclGGw.html
A very nice piece of work I wish modern documentary makers would watch this and learn from it. The viewer is treat as an intelligent adult so there is no need for a recap every 10 minutes. The presenter knows about his subject and doesn't need to go on a journey (cue footage of train stations etc etc) and best of all he allows the interviewees to tell their own very interesting story.
Ian Wraith well said, that's my pet hate too. I don't know if you listen to podcasts, but if you do you might find The Bletchley Park Podcast interesting. I have been producing it for more than 4 years now and we feature interviews with BP Veterans in most episodes.
Ian Wraith thank you, I hope you enjoy the shows. This months show (out in a week) will be about The Zimmerman Telegram in WW1. Many of people in Room 40 that decrypted it when on to work at BP in WW2.
There is something unique about us British, who have a long history of providing small groups of people, who can usually be classified as keen amateurs, in various fields, usually scientific , who have become, unknowingly, vital to their country's survival. This small group, is a previously unknown , special example. What a wonderful account, of their huge contribution to our victory. Most enjoyable.
Meanwhile, the professionals were covered by The Official Secrets Act, and unable to discuss such things even as late as 1979. 'British Intelligence in the Second World War' by F H Hinsley (abridged 1994, or full editions 1979 onwards) has some firm hints as to what was going on and its value, but is by no means a complete history. Does cover some of the cock-ups though.
There was a time when if you could do a job you could have that job that is without necessarily having paper qualification to do it. Part of what we have now is people who are not artist engineers learnt from childhood doing engineering but people who are academically good who may be plodding less inspired engineers.
When I was in the Royal Observer Corps in the eighties, I met a ex VI at Amateur Radio Conference. He said because neighbours we’re getting suspicious that he was not doing a any volunteer war work, such as home guard, air raid wardens, fire watching etc , he was given a ROC uniform to wear when attending a VI meetings. G1UYP.
A nice little programme where the content is more important than 'production values'. No music, no second replays or multiple recaps, no simulation, no media studies presenter 'having a go' at morse and mucking it up. Made for those with a reasonable attention span. Although I had to grin at 20:13, when the lit cigarette made an appearance! 73 de GWØEZB
Marvellous documentary, and delightfully succinct with no recaps. Modern documentary directors could learn a lot from it. I was an Air Cadet in the 60s, and one of our officers' day job was "Civil Servant" - and in Cheltenham that was code for GCHQ. When we went on annual camp at RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall, he invited the NCOs (including me) to a hut on the base, where there was a very old fashioned looking radio set up, with a coax running out of the window to a sloping antenna. He said that he was a radio amateur, and thought we might be interested in his hobby. He established comms with various hams around the world to demonstrate what he could do, and explained about licences - but after half an hour, he got onto his real passion, SigInt: How to listen for a morse operator's "fist", how to distinguish coded messages, how Huff Duff (High Frequency Direction Finding) worked, the characteristics and nicknames of Numbers Stations, and how to make antennae directional out of Don 10 wire. It was fascinating and had obviously been his lifelong interest. The equipment he had set up must have been his own, because I'm sure that the RAF wouldn't have let him use theirs. He didn't say what he'd done in the war - and he would have been very young then - but he did say that radio amateurs had been really important at that time. I still have a soft spot for the tune called "The Lincolnshire Poacher", which I heard for the first time that afternoon.
Interesting, Lindsay. Here in the far Antipodes, besides a National HRO Sr, I have the R1155 in fine working order (including the DF section). It's good sensitivity always impresses me.
I love it that those "amateur" radio operator imposed their own security restrictions and kept it quiet what they were truly up to. It shows that good people don't need government oversight, they'll do it themselves......
New chair of BBC is Richard Sharpe ex Goldman sax banker And Director of the right wing think tank The Centre for policy studies. The new Director of the BBC is Tim Davies ex Tory Councillor for Hammersmith and Chelsea. To work for the BBC you are vetted by MI5. Prim minister David Cameron told parliament that the BBC had been purged of left wing sympathisers. Indeed head of the BBC news room is no other than George Osborne's best man. MichaelKingsfordGray
Most enjoyable. History of Amatuer Radio and the importance it played in during those yrs is unmeasured. What a blessing these men were to Britain. KE5URE
This is one of the best documentaries yet. I knew that State side, amateur operators were forbidden to operate during the war except as working with the War Department. But it was the wireless system that did help win the war. Tnx KC4RAF
Thank you for posting. What a great programme, especially notable for such a compellingly woven together tale and so many primary sources! If only the BBC made such quality material these days.
An Australian boy listened to morse on his radio, learned to key and kelp a log. When war was threatening wrote to whoever needed the information with his log. Techniques of identifying radio keyers, how to track them and where radio men moved to. Soon four large cars police and goverent men, to seize the master spy who knew where in the vast Pacific several hundred ships were and where they were going. Ended up alright, as a master spy for Australia.
I am writing to thank you profusely for putting this programme up. I just started reading a newish book called “GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War, 1900-1986” and this is mentioned on page 2 or 3 as being hugely important at the time it was transmitted.
One of the very first intercept stations was hidden by the admiralty in a tiny cottage in Stockton on Tees, about 5 miles from Middlesbrough and about 2 miles from where I sit right now. Always fascinating the intelligence side
It's interesting that we got into German radio traffic in both wars and both times they believed it to be impossible. There is so much history here that could be lost - the old office that's now a barbers should have a plaque on it for example, & that metal " tank" should be urgently preserved (if it still exists ). Such important history!
Thank you for uploading this. Radio War, a superb book mentioned this documentary in its first few pages and led me here. Interestingly it talks about radio Amateurs as if everyone knew what that meant. Sadly not like that anymore on the UK. People at work are completely mystified!! 73 de 2E0GZM/Lee
Presented by René Cutforth, a great BBC front man. There's so much information in this short film the using today's TV techniques the BBC or whoever could squeeze out a six parter, a DVD, and coffee table book.
I remember him hosting a series called 'The Codebreakers' - here he talks about how the WWII German code machine worked: facebook.com/watch/?v=613104415794002
I am curious to know what area of the radio spectrum the VI's were ask to monitor , I can only imagine it was somewhere near LF or more likely VLF stations, way down to using earth antenna and looking for CW transmissions. And "Yes " as I have been in the TV business for some 20 years of making Docos etc I will echo previous accolades as to how we use to assemble a proper Doco, Having the budget to research and shoot IV's ( not VI's but "main interviews" in production speak) with folks that are no longer alive gives so much cred to your project, and we are very lucky to have these on tape.
The Germans had the Sicherheitsdienst with listening stations all over the mainland of Europe. We had Bert and Cyril in an underground box in a farmer's field. And STILL they were outsmarted. GSTQ
4 ปีที่แล้ว
THEY refers to Bert and Cyril if you follow your grammar
I'd love to know what that message said at the end. This was made at a time when the BBC produced quality programmes and kept the camera in one place for more than one second.
Excellent documentary! I found the most fascinating part was the fact that one could distinguish between the Morse code styles of the different nationalities.
I learned about this while in training at Woodhouse Eaves, Nr, Loughborough back in the early 60's so found the video very interesting. Many years later has a civilian I had to undergo a lecture from the head of site security at an intercept station to carry out a work survey on required repairs there. I asked if I may be allowed to interrupt and proceeded to explain the fact that I had been vetted to work in signals intelligence doing that line of work, hence the reason why I had been given the job to carry out the survey. The security chap looked at me rather displeased and asked why I had not said so in the first place. I answered "That is for me to know and you to find out". No more said !. The old DOE guy who had taken me there looked at me very surprised and asked me some questions. I explained to him that I did not or could not publicise the facts of the work that I did. Mrs. Thatcher blew the lid on security at GCHQ Cheltenham when the question about a trade union being setup there got into the press. Now everyone besides the KGB knows what happens there.
The presenter is Rene Cutforth. A senior reporter and presenter for the BBC and I think he had a column in the then excellent Sunday Express. A skilled raconteur with a great voice, Clive James once said of him that he had a voice like a chest full of books being moved about.
The partial Morse code message at the beginning says: "vvv de g6zg for bbc norw", where "vvv" stands for "transmit in Morse code"; "de" stands for "from" or "this is"; and "g6zg" is an amateur radio call sign. The Morse video was cut off after "bbc norw" which presumably is the first part of "BBC Norwich." At least in 1949, G6ZG was F H Lawley in coastal Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, which is about 20 miles (just over 30 km) straight east of Norwich. Even played back at half or quarter speed, I can "read" only parts of the longer Morse message beginning near the end at 28:56 that involves only clicks. I can't distinguish among dots, dashes, and spaces, plus there are Morse abbreviations to contend with (e.g., es = and). Can anyone provide a transcript and "translation" of what was being sent there?
Hugo Lawley, Arthur Gee and the other amateurs featured in the film are all now "silent keys" - amateur slang for deceased. The message at the end is hard to read as you say, just from the key-clicks, and someone suggested it was American Railroad Morse, not the International Code used by most radio stations. To me, the message at the end is a loop of the same message repeated 2 or 3 times and "THE" is the only word I'm sure of. If it is Railroad Morse then I'd be interested to see a translation. I live in Norfolk and, several years ago, I was given a audio cassette by a close radio amateur friend of Hugo Lawley. Supposedly, the tape contains a recording of a "speech" in Railroad Morse by Thomas Edison. I have never been able to decipher the clicks! Any experts out there? 73
This reminded me about the remarkable history of Eddie Chapman, a London safe blower serving time in one of HMP's at the time war broke out. Intelligence services visited him and offered him the chance of instant release on condition he worked for them He ended up as UK's most famous and successful double agent known as Agent Zigzag. He gave an interview with the BBC who made a documentary about his life as a spy. An amazing guy he oozed with self confidence and charm and it was easy to see how he became so successful......even being the only Briton to be awarded the Iron Cross!! Yet everything he fed to the Germans was all false!
Yes indeed , he had some hairy moments dealing with the Germans and the SS. When the war was over and it was all done and dusted and he was back in England . The Secret Service calming told him , his file had been destroyed in a bombing raid . So he couldn't prosecuted anyway , the whole thing had been for nothing !
@@welshpete12 I found the documentary and interviews with him absolutely fascinating and incredible. He came across as a "loveable rogue" type of character and in appearance reminded me a bit of train robber Ronnie Biggs. I imagine he was quite a charmer and ladies man! But he had the SS eating out of his hand and when on assignment in Norway. the weather was glorious but he was bored and told them he'd like to go sailing......so they duly obliged by providing him with a yacht! To quote him he said, "actually I had a bloody good war". I think he was so convincing at what he was doing, the risk of being discovered and shot by the Germans never crossed his mind.
This documentary is why I love TH-cam. Fantastic little doc, a bit nerdy, super interesting and where else could I hope to find it? The second watching of this for me and I'll probably watch it again. Thanks Nicholas Hyer for putting this up. Well done Sir!
These videos are fascinating. Done in (I think) the 1970s, they caught the men who actually did the intelligence work against the Germans while they were still able to tell their stories. They are invaluable historical documents. And it's amazing that British intelligence were able to pluck up skilled amateurs and organize them into a valuable force, and that the amateurs were willing to put themselves to considerable "inconvenience" to serve the war effort.
Very interesting presentation reference call signs and history of this great hobby that I have Enjoyed since 1951 as a novice now extra class W2WC. I continue fully active on all bands. Thanks, 73's
Great documentary. My father worked for SCUs at Bletchley, Whaddon, Hanslope and often visited the WI stations he also built the suitcase radios dropped to SOE and parts of the Rockex British wireless encryption device
That old tank is remarkably well-preserved at the time of this film, I don't understand how it could still be so clean inside with actual wartime equipment still present and in what looks like serviceable shape. I can imagine weather, animals, or even teenagers wrecking that thing in no time at all and yet this is 3 and a half decades after the war.
My father did this work , meanly listening to the Germans in France in about 1943 . It was surprising what they found out . Believe it or not, if something of interest came up and they wanted to record it , they used recording discs ! Tape recorders were unknown at that time. Some very odd things were heard . One, was a station asking for arms and money to be dropped for a resistance group in Germany . But when a cross bearing was taken. It was found to be coming from some where in Russia . An other was a station that no one could understand the language . It turned out to be a station in the Argentine transmitting in Welsh !
Sir Patrick Moore of the "Sky at night" fame, once remarked that eventually television would eventually become nothing but puerile Kitchen sink drama's and cookery programmes and so it has come to pass. We will not see television like this again.
This was great. Much respect for all involved. For the people, the persons that you are, your character and disciplined integrity, and your work that helped to win the war. Many thanks!
Great to see this. Never had the opportunity to watch this on tv since there was no satellite- or cable-tv in my youth. Could watch Germany of Belgium from time to time if the weather was good.
These stories and the people who told them first hand are almost extinct ...we must preserve this history and not retell it as we would like .... thank you for sharing it.
Amazing this was filmed only 30 odd years from the end of the war - all relative I guess but a great record of these amazing times, nice to see the folk involved getting interviewed.
An exceptional documentary programme giving us the information in a non-dramatic style without overpowering 'background' music. Good OLD BBC. Thank you for this. Pity that very few programmes are made in the same way now. One exception is Tom Scott. Check his channel on TH-cam.
Very VERY interesting video. I too, am an Amateur Radio Op. Call is KB4AKS. Been a ham since the spring of 1980, and I can connect with these hams adventures. As I have often said in my QSL cards " Amateur Radio - An American Treasure" but it still serves all nations who uphold our right to the bands. .
Thxs for posting, it's amazing how the algorithm can pick what you like, for me ham radio and history, you mean people used to pay the history channel ,extraordinary
my aunt was a german army field hospital nurse during WW2, andshe was listening to the BBC radio seceretly in the nurses barracks one night, anlong with a few other nurses, when she was caught bu “authoroties”.because she was the head operating theatre nurse, they could not do with out her, so the held a general parade next days, and infront of all the nurses and doctors, they Took he official Nazi Party badge of her… se said she never felt so ashamed in her life. after the war he left geramny and came to Australia.long story there.
I love hearing about the Hero's in the shadows that really made some of the allied victorys possible as we know it. Too often all the glory goes to just one man when it is very really just one man.
"Hunston" which is spelled Hunstanton and later, "Windham" which is spelled Wymondham. I am doing this for American viewers to this very interesting documentary. I can recall Rene Cutforth, the presenter here doing a great Van den Berghs, (a part of Unilever) margarine commercial on the TV- he gave the product gravitas but I don't know if it was a success.
I wish we had such excellent presenters these days. Instead of pushing himself and his own views, he presented the facts. And what a splendid masculine voice as well. These days the BBC allows presenters and reporters to insinuate their prejudices into what should be factual reporting.
No loud overbearing music.Facts laid out by a well spoken Gentleman. Good luck getting this anymore.
My goodness, I was just thinking that. They certainly don't make 'em like this anymore.
Rene Cutforth was the gentleman. I could have listened to him for hours!
Talk about sawing off the branch your sitting on. Wonder what these gentlemen would say today seeing how things turned out.
History channel:
"On last episode of ancient aliens .... "
th-cam.com/channels/fCKvREB11-fxyotS1ONgww.html
Do not mistake the term 'amateur' for being someone lacking competence. It means they are not allowed to be paid for their services. Radio amateurs have been responsible for great strides in the radio arts and much of our current understanding of atmospheric propagation comes from their efforts over the decades.
Well put! Sign me an ex-military radio operator, licensed air and marine radio operator and licensed US and Canadian Amateur
The term 'Amateur' actually really annoys me!
gateless
As a 'Noun' , Amateur, is meant to imply, someone who is not Paid, for what he /she does, as apposed to someone, who is; So thereby, becoming a 'Professional'. which again, to other's, implies higher ability, so good, they get paid for their services. Over the years, the tag Amateur--ish etc . stated as a 'Adjective', implies substandard, --not good enough, which is subject to opinion. Not surprisingly, upsetting to many.
Absolutely. Literally amateurs should be people who do it for the love of it - think of the difference between sweethearts and whores. Better motivation at least
I used to be a SIGINT operator in the US Army in the 80s & 90s. I worked alongside the British while in West Berlin. We had dealings with all of the other intelligence gatherers, not just those who listened to radios. There has been a stark difference between the Americans & the British in their intelligence gathering. The US has always focused on what new piece of technology can assist them in gathering intelligence while the human factor is just someone to turn on the equipment. Meanwhile the British were excellent in utilizing their best & brightest, even their specially gifted citizens to do intelligence work. One thing I have always admired about the British intelligence community.
It should be known that the presenter of this documentary is Rene Cutforth. He was a well known and distinguished broadcaster and had seen both active service during the second war including several years' as a POW. He reported from wars in Spain, Korea, Malaya and Vietnam and elsewhere. Clive James describes him very well:
- Reviewing one of Cutforth's television programmes entitled The Forties Revisited, the critic Clive James wrote in The Observer: "Cutforth is that rare thing, a front man with background. Fitzrovia and Soho weigh heavily on his eye lids. His voice sounds like tea-chests full of books being shifted about."
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, WE SHOULD, HAVE BEEN TOLD WHO THIS GENTLEMAN PRESENTER IS; I RECOGNISE HIM, AND HIS VOICE, FROM MANY YEARS AGO. A LOST GEM I SUPPOSE, NOW.
I didn't recognise him, but thought, until I read this, that it was Jeremy Kemp.
Thanks - I was sure I recognised him, but couldn't put a name to him.
Superb. And now the wonderful Clive James has gone, too.
Wonderful, thank you so much. I was racking my brains to recall his name, and found out so much more besides.
When the BBC was worth watching. Take note before it is too late.
How wonderful the BBC was before they dumbed down to the point of simply producing drivel for the intellectually challenged.
The corporation’s output is now so dreadful that I cancelled my licence ages ago. YT is my go-to watch now.
You think videos of cats falling over are "intellectually challenging" ?
Let me take a wild guess as to how you voted in the Brexit referendum...
@@riceuteneuer2678 There is an extreme wealth of useful information to be gained from YT so long as you're willing to apply yourself. The first three links concern data transmission prior to the now ubiquitous ethernet/Internet.
Although SONET (3rd link) was originally for bulk transport of toll quality (commercial) long distance phone calls it was pressed into service to support private intranet connections with a minimum data speed in the range of 33Mbps for an OC-1. This was when most local switched networks were running 10/100Mbps. With deep corporate pockets, you could contract for a private OC192c trunk that would support nearly 10Gbps capacity before native long haul optical ethernet became common.
Believe it or not, there are still a lot of networks running on SONET transport lines. There are significant equipment costs to migrating customers from still useful legacy transport networks to shiney new native ethernet transport services.
The last two links are computer science related.
th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=baudot+code
th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=ami+b8zs+hdb3
th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=synchronous+optical+network+(sonet)+
and
th-cam.com/video/HbgzrKJvDRw/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/channels/YVU6rModlGxvJbszCclGGw.html
@@riceuteneuer2678 What a dumb thig to say
@@prestcoldandy910 Pretty good guide to someone’s intellect, usually
Now the bbc ARE THE TRUE PROPAGANDA MERCHANTS
A very nice piece of work I wish modern documentary makers would watch this and learn from it. The viewer is treat as an intelligent adult so there is no need for a recap every 10 minutes. The presenter knows about his subject and doesn't need to go on a journey (cue footage of train stations etc etc) and best of all he allows the interviewees to tell their own very interesting story.
Ian Wraith well said, that's my pet hate too. I don't know if you listen to podcasts, but if you do you might find The Bletchley Park Podcast interesting. I have been producing it for more than 4 years now and we feature interviews with BP Veterans in most episodes.
Hi Mark - Thanks for the podcast information. I didn't know about it and now I subscribe. Thanks again. Ian
Ian Wraith thank you, I hope you enjoy the shows. This months show (out in a week) will be about The Zimmerman Telegram in WW1. Many of people in Room 40 that decrypted it when on to work at BP in WW2.
Mark Cotton ...where can you listen to the podcasts???
I appreciate that there is no music in the background while people are talking.
There is something unique about us British, who have a long history of providing small groups of people, who can usually be classified as keen amateurs, in various fields, usually scientific , who have become, unknowingly, vital to their country's survival. This small group, is a previously unknown , special example. What a wonderful account, of their huge contribution to our victory. Most enjoyable.
Meanwhile, the professionals were covered by The Official Secrets Act, and unable to discuss such things even as late as 1979. 'British Intelligence in the Second World War' by F H Hinsley (abridged 1994, or full editions 1979 onwards) has some firm hints as to what was going on and its value, but is by no means a complete history. Does cover some of the cock-ups though.
There was a time when if you could do a job you could have that job that is without necessarily having paper qualification to do it. Part of what we have now is people who are not artist engineers learnt from childhood doing engineering but people who are academically good who may be plodding less inspired engineers.
I love the fact that the presenter sits in a comfy chair with a lit cigarette while delivering the commentary. Informal but still informing.
He looks like the kind of guy you would sit and talk with for hours over drinks.
Intelligent and articulate presentation. I wish modern documentaries were like this.
@MichaelKingsfordGray Keep looking, I am sure that you will find your medication soon.
Millennials don't have the patience for this kind of pace. They want everything at Edgar Wright speed.
its so refreshing to hear English being used so correctly and to be treated an an adult with this content.
When I was in the Royal Observer Corps in the eighties, I met a ex VI at Amateur Radio Conference.
He said because neighbours we’re getting suspicious that he was not doing a any volunteer war work, such as home guard, air raid wardens, fire watching etc , he was given a ROC uniform to wear when attending a VI meetings.
G1UYP.
A nice little programme where the content is more important than 'production values'. No music, no second replays or multiple recaps, no simulation, no media studies presenter 'having a go' at morse and mucking it up. Made for those with a reasonable attention span. Although I had to grin at 20:13, when the lit cigarette made an appearance! 73 de GWØEZB
12:32 English are masters of straight faced understatement, “I imagine this must have been jumped on from a great height.”
Marvellous documentary, and delightfully succinct with no recaps. Modern documentary directors could learn a lot from it.
I was an Air Cadet in the 60s, and one of our officers' day job was "Civil Servant" - and in Cheltenham that was code for GCHQ. When we went on annual camp at RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall, he invited the NCOs (including me) to a hut on the base, where there was a very old fashioned looking radio set up, with a coax running out of the window to a sloping antenna.
He said that he was a radio amateur, and thought we might be interested in his hobby. He established comms with various hams around the world to demonstrate what he could do, and explained about licences - but after half an hour, he got onto his real passion, SigInt:
How to listen for a morse operator's "fist", how to distinguish coded messages, how Huff Duff (High Frequency Direction Finding) worked, the characteristics and nicknames of Numbers Stations, and how to make antennae directional out of Don 10 wire. It was fascinating and had obviously been his lifelong interest.
The equipment he had set up must have been his own, because I'm sure that the RAF wouldn't have let him use theirs. He didn't say what he'd done in the war - and he would have been very young then - but he did say that radio amateurs had been really important at that time.
I still have a soft spot for the tune called "The Lincolnshire Poacher", which I heard for the first time that afternoon.
Interesting, Lindsay. Here in the far Antipodes, besides a National HRO Sr, I have the R1155 in fine working order (including the DF section). It's good sensitivity always impresses me.
I love it that those "amateur" radio operator imposed their own security restrictions and kept it quiet what they were truly up to. It shows that good people don't need government oversight, they'll do it themselves......
Really good program - as is expected of the BBC. Shame documentaries like this are few and far between these days.
New chair of BBC is Richard Sharpe ex Goldman sax banker And Director of the right wing think tank The Centre for policy studies. The new Director of the BBC is Tim Davies ex Tory Councillor for Hammersmith and Chelsea. To work for the BBC you are vetted by MI5. Prim minister David Cameron told parliament that the BBC had been purged of left wing sympathisers. Indeed head of the BBC news room is no other than George Osborne's best man. MichaelKingsfordGray
@MichaelKingsfordGray What actual evidence do you have of this to back up your claims ??
@MichaelKingsfordGray How long have you worked there then?
MichaelKingsfordGray Flat earthed,probably don't believe they went to the moon either, bloody conspiracists,
Seems like many people haven't yet heard of Jimmy Savile... OBE of course.
Most enjoyable. History of Amatuer Radio and the importance it played in during those yrs is unmeasured. What a blessing these men were to Britain. KE5URE
This is one of the best documentaries yet. I knew that State side, amateur operators were forbidden to operate during the war except as working with the War Department. But it was the wireless system that did help win the war. Tnx KC4RAF
Thank you for posting.
What a great programme, especially notable for such a compellingly woven together tale and so many primary sources! If only the BBC made such quality material these days.
An Australian boy listened to morse on his radio, learned to key and kelp a log. When war was threatening wrote to whoever needed the information with his log. Techniques of identifying radio keyers, how to track them and where radio men moved to. Soon four large cars police and goverent men, to seize the master spy who knew where in the vast Pacific several hundred ships were and where they were going. Ended up alright, as a master spy for Australia.
From here in the States:: BRAVO to your video and what you have told the world! Thanks so much for the video! We definitely owe you a brew!!
Beautiful presentation from the backyard.
Across from my desk is my working National HRO Sr receiver. I'm sure I saw the S-meter move during this doco. even though it's not switched on..
An excellent programme indeed; has a mention in the credits to a piece on Voluntary Interceptors in RSGB's RADCOM this month [September 2018]
I am writing to thank you profusely for putting this programme up. I just started reading a newish book called “GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War, 1900-1986” and this is mentioned on page 2 or 3 as being hugely important at the time it was transmitted.
One of the very first intercept stations was hidden by the admiralty in a tiny cottage in Stockton on Tees, about 5 miles from Middlesbrough and about 2 miles from where I sit right now. Always fascinating the intelligence side
I'm in Stockton on tees..... Never knew this.....whereabouts is it..?
@@doingstuffoutdoors3002 19 Marley close
Cheers...👍
Greetings From G1YFR. 73s Happy new year. Great documentary thank you. My Sisters friends husband worked for MI5. SOE WW II radio communications.
I have seen this documentary a number of times now and it is always a fascinating watch
A most enjoyable documentary! Cordial thanks, from a location about 2 kms to where Cicero once operated! Regards, TA2LIH
the nearest to this old and good style of documentary these days is the sky at night.
Beautiful isn't it?
Fascinating! Thank you for sharing this documentary with me and many others.
It's interesting that we got into German radio traffic in both wars and both times they believed it to be impossible. There is so much history here that could be lost - the old office that's now a barbers should have a plaque on it for example, & that metal " tank" should be urgently preserved (if it still exists ). Such important history!
We all should know by now to deeply distrust any “official” who says that something is impossible, including the tag, ‘unsinkable’!!!
That is the best documentary iv'e seen on TH-cam thank you
My grandfather was a Ham radio operator in Australia and monitored and reported on transmissions in WW2.
Thank you for uploading this. Radio War, a superb book mentioned this documentary in its first few pages and led me here. Interestingly it talks about radio Amateurs as if everyone knew what that meant. Sadly not like that anymore on the UK. People at work are completely mystified!! 73 de 2E0GZM/Lee
Thank you very much for posting. Fabulous story, well told.
Presented by René Cutforth, a great BBC front man.
There's so much information in this short film the using today's TV techniques the BBC or whoever could squeeze out a six parter, a DVD, and coffee table book.
Thank you for that info. I recalled listening to Cutforth years ago, a true professional.
I remember him hosting a series called 'The Codebreakers' - here he talks about how the WWII German code machine worked: facebook.com/watch/?v=613104415794002
Brilliant and succinct well produced program and actual interviews with the people who played the vital roles. Terrific stuff.
Absolutely superb documentary. A complete contrast to today's fare. A pleasure to watch. Thank you for posting it.
Glad you enjoyed it
I am curious to know what area of the radio spectrum the VI's were ask to monitor , I can only imagine it was somewhere near LF or more likely VLF stations, way down to using earth antenna and looking for CW transmissions. And "Yes " as I have been in the TV business for some 20 years of making Docos etc I will echo previous accolades as to how we use to assemble a proper Doco, Having the budget to research and shoot IV's ( not VI's but "main interviews" in production speak) with folks that are no longer alive gives so much cred to your project, and we are very lucky to have these on tape.
The Germans had the Sicherheitsdienst with listening stations all over the mainland of Europe. We had Bert and Cyril in an underground box in a farmer's field. And STILL they were outsmarted.
GSTQ
THEY refers to Bert and Cyril if you follow your grammar
Never underestimate the power of men in sheds. 😉
@@Kevin-mx1vi "... and a bayonet, with some guts behind it"
@@twotone3070 They don't like up 'em you know.
I'd love to know what that message said at the end. This was made at a time when the BBC produced quality programmes and kept the camera in one place for more than one second.
Excellent documentary! I found the most fascinating part was the fact that one could distinguish between the Morse code styles of the different nationalities.
Excellent program. Thank you.
Wonderful stuff!Quality material and presentation.Thank you,very much ,for making this available here.
Such informative and direct commentary - a shame we no longer enjoy this these days!
I learned about this while in training at Woodhouse Eaves, Nr, Loughborough back in the early 60's so found the video very interesting. Many years later has a civilian I had to undergo a lecture from the head of site security at an intercept station to carry out a work survey on required repairs there. I asked if I may be allowed to interrupt and proceeded to explain the fact that I had been vetted to work in signals intelligence doing that line of work, hence the reason why I had been given the job to carry out the survey. The security chap looked at me rather displeased and asked why I had not said so in the first place. I answered "That is for me to know and you to find out". No more said !. The old DOE guy who had taken me there looked at me very surprised and asked me some questions. I explained to him that I did not or could not publicise the facts of the work that I did. Mrs. Thatcher blew the lid on security at GCHQ Cheltenham when the question about a trade union being setup there got into the press. Now everyone besides the KGB knows what happens there.
Thank you what an amazing team of people if only to days news casters had this training directly to the point without any waffle.
Very interesting. I've read loads about Bletchley and Enigma but little about this part of our intelligence and the VIs. Fascinating.
I sincerely hope that the VI’s services were officially recognised.
Their services were recognised eventually by then Powers that be on 16th November 2023..
2E0KCE
The presenter is Rene Cutforth. A senior reporter and presenter for the BBC and I think he had a column in the then excellent Sunday Express. A skilled raconteur with a great voice, Clive James once said of him that he had a voice like a chest full of books being moved about.
An outstanding doco with specific reference to the role played by amateurs. Well done chaps.
The partial Morse code message at the beginning says: "vvv de g6zg for bbc norw", where "vvv" stands for "transmit in Morse code"; "de" stands for "from" or "this is"; and "g6zg" is an amateur radio call sign. The Morse video was cut off after "bbc norw" which presumably is the first part of "BBC Norwich." At least in 1949, G6ZG was F H Lawley in coastal Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, which is about 20 miles (just over 30 km) straight east of Norwich.
Even played back at half or quarter speed, I can "read" only parts of the longer Morse message beginning near the end at 28:56 that involves only clicks. I can't distinguish among dots, dashes, and spaces, plus there are Morse abbreviations to contend with (e.g., es = and). Can anyone provide a transcript and "translation" of what was being sent there?
Hugo Lawley, Arthur Gee and the other amateurs featured in the film are all now "silent keys" - amateur slang for deceased. The message at the end is hard to read as you say, just from the key-clicks, and someone suggested it was American Railroad Morse, not the International Code used by most radio stations. To me, the message at the end is a loop of the same message repeated 2 or 3 times and "THE" is the only word I'm sure of. If it is Railroad Morse then I'd be interested to see a translation. I live in Norfolk and, several years ago, I was given a audio cassette by a close radio amateur friend of Hugo Lawley. Supposedly, the tape contains a recording of a "speech" in Railroad Morse by Thomas Edison. I have never been able to decipher the clicks! Any experts out there?
73
Didn't start properly with CT and ending AR then? QSV'ing instead, tut tut!
learned Morse listing on the air so the first bit is easy
last bit is harder to copy than a banana boat swing
sent with a badly adjusted bug
de w8
English being "restrict"
Glad to be a amateur radio operator
This reminded me about the remarkable history of Eddie Chapman, a London safe blower serving time in one of HMP's at the time war broke out. Intelligence services visited him and offered him the chance of instant release on condition he worked for them He ended up as UK's most famous and successful double agent known as Agent Zigzag. He gave an interview with the BBC who made a documentary about his life as a spy. An amazing guy he oozed with self confidence and charm and it was easy to see how he became so successful......even being the only Briton to be awarded the Iron Cross!! Yet everything he fed to the Germans was all false!
Yes indeed , he had some hairy moments dealing with the Germans and the SS. When the war was over and it was all done and dusted and he was back in England . The Secret Service calming told him , his file had been destroyed in a bombing raid . So he couldn't prosecuted anyway , the whole thing had been for nothing !
@@welshpete12 I found the documentary and interviews with him absolutely fascinating and incredible. He came across as a "loveable rogue" type of character and in appearance reminded me a bit of train robber Ronnie Biggs. I imagine he was quite a charmer and ladies man! But he had the SS eating out of his hand and when on assignment in Norway. the weather was glorious but he was bored and told them he'd like to go sailing......so they duly obliged by providing him with a yacht! To quote him he said, "actually I had a bloody good war". I think he was so convincing at what he was doing, the risk of being discovered and shot by the Germans never crossed his mind.
Thank You from the States. Just getting back into Code and this was most enjoyable.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This documentary is why I love TH-cam. Fantastic little doc, a bit nerdy, super interesting and where else could I hope to find it? The second watching of this for me and I'll probably watch it again. Thanks Nicholas Hyer for putting this up. Well done Sir!
Being a SWLer I found that very very interesting.
These videos are fascinating. Done in (I think) the 1970s, they caught the men who actually did the intelligence work against the Germans while they were still able to tell their stories.
They are invaluable historical documents.
And it's amazing that British intelligence were able to pluck up skilled amateurs and organize them into a valuable force, and that the amateurs were willing to put themselves to considerable "inconvenience" to serve the war effort.
I knew George Edwards, G2UX (SK) well, and spoke with him regularly over HF back in the last century.
Very interesting presentation reference call signs and history of this great hobby that I have
Enjoyed since 1951 as a novice now extra class W2WC. I continue fully active on all bands.
Thanks, 73's
Great documentary. My father worked for SCUs at Bletchley, Whaddon, Hanslope and often visited the WI stations he also built the suitcase radios dropped to SOE and parts of the Rockex British wireless encryption device
"When an Italian sends Morse you can hear his shirt tail flying in the breeze." ... not hard to imagine what that means.
That old tank is remarkably well-preserved at the time of this film, I don't understand how it could still be so clean inside with actual wartime equipment still present and in what looks like serviceable shape. I can imagine weather, animals, or even teenagers wrecking that thing in no time at all and yet this is 3 and a half decades after the war.
My father did this work , meanly listening to the Germans in France in about 1943 . It was surprising what they found out . Believe it or not, if something of interest came up and they wanted to record it , they used recording discs ! Tape recorders were unknown at that time. Some very odd things were heard . One, was a station asking for arms and money to be dropped for a resistance group in Germany . But when a cross bearing was taken. It was found to be coming from some where in Russia . An other was a station that no one could understand the language . It turned out to be a station in the Argentine transmitting in Welsh !
It sounds like there are a lot of interesting and wild stories that remain untold...
Very good. Thank you Nicholas.
Excellent upload and thank you very much!
Sir Patrick Moore of the "Sky at night" fame, once remarked that eventually television would eventually become nothing but puerile Kitchen sink drama's and cookery programmes and so it has come to pass. We will not see television like this again.
This was great. Much respect for all involved. For the people, the persons that you are, your character and disciplined integrity, and your work that helped to win the war. Many thanks!
Great to see this. Never had the opportunity to watch this on tv since there was no satellite- or cable-tv in my youth. Could watch Germany of Belgium from time to time if the weather was good.
As Shamrock said, this is an "intelligent and articulate presentation." We listeners are treated as intelligent beings.
Good to see Rene’ Cutforth again, a great journalist / broadcaster of the old school!
Very interesting video. - Neil ex- N7BBN, W8TKF, DL4CU, AE1CU, & WN1ZUO.
These stories and the people who told them first hand are almost extinct ...we must preserve this history and not retell it as we would like .... thank you for sharing it.
Out of the time without 16/9 tvs. Nothing is awfully stretched into 16/9 ratio.
Amazing this was filmed only 30 odd years from the end of the war - all relative I guess but a great record of these amazing times, nice to see the folk involved getting interviewed.
An exceptional documentary programme giving us the information in a non-dramatic style without overpowering 'background' music. Good OLD BBC. Thank you for this. Pity that very few programmes are made in the same way now. One exception is Tom Scott. Check his channel on TH-cam.
Congratulations to all of them in the team....
5:38
Jellicoe’s disaster?
Bringing British ships which could out-range the German guns to within German range before ordering fire?
Excellent documentary . Cheers from the U.S.
Britain in the 1970s had a lengthy list of problems but at least in that era the national broadcaster produced world-class programming.
Very VERY interesting video. I too, am an Amateur Radio Op. Call is KB4AKS. Been a ham since the spring of 1980, and I can connect with these hams adventures. As I have often said in my QSL cards " Amateur Radio - An American Treasure" but it still serves all nations who uphold our right to the bands. .
Thxs for posting, it's amazing how the algorithm can pick what you like, for me ham radio and history, you mean people used to pay the history channel ,extraordinary
Great documentary, thank you.
Excellent. Thanks from India.
Fantastic first rate insight and documentry
Is "OK", a morse abreviation for "on key"? Please let me know.
No. Apparently it was a counterculture “meme”/code in the 1700s that meant “oll korrect” or all correct
my aunt was a german army field hospital nurse during WW2, andshe was listening to the BBC radio seceretly in the nurses barracks one night, anlong with a few other nurses, when she was caught bu “authoroties”.because she was the head operating theatre nurse, they could not do with out her, so the held a general parade next days, and infront of all the nurses and doctors, they Took he official Nazi Party badge of her… se said she never felt so ashamed in her life. after the war he left geramny and came to Australia.long story there.
Fascinating! Thanks for posting! 👍
I love hearing about the Hero's in the shadows that really made some of the allied victorys possible as we know it. Too often all the glory goes to just one man when it is very really just one man.
"Hunston" which is spelled Hunstanton and later, "Windham" which is spelled Wymondham. I am doing this for American viewers to this very interesting documentary. I can recall Rene Cutforth, the presenter here doing a great Van den Berghs, (a part of Unilever) margarine commercial on the TV- he gave the product gravitas but I don't know if it was a success.
Superb docu ! Did the volunteers receive any payment/allowances of any kind ?
Very good documentary.
Would anyone be so kind to transcript the morse code messages in the end, please?
It seems there is a message for viewers.
Op Mincemeat. Trevor-Roper was wrong, the body was found in Malaga but the Huelva region on the Atlantic coast.
It all came into context at five minutes in, when we discovered what era was being discussed.
If you like this you'll like The Secret War. A BBC series presented in 1977 by William Woollard..
Brilliant, informational programming, the likes of which seems to be lost forever?
Very interesting programme