Full Lewin quote re golden eggs: "Certain circles invented their own private code-words for the Bletchley intelligence, whether as an insurance or as an in-joke. Churchill's entourage knew Ultra as Boniface. Churchill himself, asking for Ultra papers, would say 'Where are my eggs?': he had a way of referring to the people at Bletchley as 'the geese who laid the golden eggs and never cackled.'" Then on in that paragraph to the Uncle Henry, Fred, and Z terms for the same intelligence product.
On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 8:46 AM, Jon Lellenberg <[email protected]>wrote: > Fn 3 on that page of Lewin's book (actually an endnote with its text on p. > 365) deals with the classification marking ULTRA. Two paragraphs down on p. > 64, Lewin gives the "golden eggs" story briefly, along with other common > euphemisms at the time for the source of the information -- Boniface, Uncle > Henry, Fred, and Z. There is no footnote to this paragraph giving further > sources for the terms. > > > On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 7:51 AM, Editor/Finest Hour <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> Does anyone have a copy of Ronald Lewin's book, "Ultra Goes to War, >> the Secret Story" (London, 1978)? Can you check Lewin's footnote on >> page 64, if there is one, to the famous quotation about Bletchley: >> "...geese that laid the golden eggs -- but never cackled." >> >> A link to Milton Keynes News on our website (http:// >> >> www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/in-the-media/churchill-in-the-news/757-great-grandson-speaks-at-the-annual-churchill-weekend >> ) >> reads: "The former Prime Minister only came to the Park officially on >> September 6, 1941 to thank the codebreakers, dubbing them 'the geese >> that laid the golden eggs - but never cackled'". >> >> A Danish student has written asking us to run down the first >> appearance. We cannot track it to 1941 in any published document in >> our scans. The Bletchley decrypts were an official secret long after >> the war and even Churchill could not allude to them in his postwar >> memoirs, although he certainly might have said this privately to the >> Bletchley codebreakers. The question is: when? >> >> Sir Martin Gilbert tracks the quotation in the official biography, >> Winston S. Churchill, vol. VI, Finest Hour 1939-1941 (London: >> Heinemann, 1983), page 612: >> >> After a short while, the code name 'Boniface' was replaced by 'CX', >> the standard two letter symbol for a British-run secret agent in enemy >> territory. In his own notes and telegrams, however, Churchill >> continued >> to refer to the Enigma messages as 'Boniface', and was later heard to >> refer to the decyphering staff at Bletchley as 'the geese who laid the >> golden eggs and never cackled'.* He also called them, more >> colloquially, >> his 'hens'.** >> >> Footnotes: >> * Quoted in Ronald Lewin, Ultra Goes to War, The Secret Story, London, >> 1978, page 64. >> ** Communication from a Bletchley ‘hand’. >> >> -- >> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "ChurchillChat" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]<churchillchat%[email protected]> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en. >> >> >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/churchillchat?hl=en.
