Top Secret: From Ciphers to Cyber Security


Fascinating exhibition at the Science Museum looking at the history of code makers and breakers and how they came together in the UK to form GCHQ.

This show was based on the collection of GCHQ and told the story clearly and told some interesting stories but felt a bit dry in places. The organisation was formed after the First World War bringing together naval and army code breakers.

The most interesting section was on Bletchley Park and the code breaking work in the Second World War. It not only looked at the technical work but also at life there. I also loved the recreation of a 1950s house to tell the story of the spy couple, Helen and Peter Kroger, which included some of their equipment like the camera in a talc tin shown here.

There was a great display of secure phones including Margaret Thatcher’s briefcase and one of the Queen’s red phones. It pointed out that the Queen is GCHQ’s longest standing individual customer. It was also interesting to see the less heroic aspect the organisation’s work highlighted such as 1978 case of the journalist Duncan Campbell revealing that GCHQ existed and the extent of it’s then surveillance programme and the Snowdon case including the laptop used by the Guardian to store the Snowdon files.

The last section looked at the organisation now but I must admit the cyber security displays were a bit impenetrable but I did like the Lego model of the doughnut building made by staff to highlight the importance of team work I the organisation.

Closes 23 February  2020

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Evening Standard



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