Why Bletchley Park codebreakers were encouraged to fall in love (nonfiction)
Why Bletchley Park codebreakers were encouraged to fall in love is an article published by The Telegraph about the love lives of Bletchley Park codebreakers during the Second World War.
The article cites historian Sinclair McKay, who said that his interviews with the codebreakers who worked there revealed that Bletchley Park's codebreakers were actively encouraged to fall in love with each other because authorities thought it would help the war effort.
Excerpt:
Mr McKay said his research had found that the park's directors fed blossoming romances in an effort to keep codebreakers happy and healthy.
One famous couple who met there, Mavis Lever and Keith Batey, were even given a dedicated area of the canteen where they could canoodle.
Mr McKay said: "I asked Keith and Mavis Batey, whose eyes met across the Enigma machine, whether the authorities were concerned about their romance, because they worked in different huts, were they worried there might be accidental crossover [of information].
"And Mrs Batey said actually no, the authorities did everything in their power to encourage the romance, to the extent of setting up special places in the canteen for them.
"I think they felt that romance was a healthy thing, and it was fantastic to have that in such a pressurised environment. So while there was security there was also a very real understanding of human psychology and human needs."
At its peak around 10,000 people worked at Bletchley Park, 75 per cent of whom were women.
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