Review of Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain’s Greatest Female Codebreaker by Jackie Uí ChionnaChionna, Jackie Uí. Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain’s Greatest Female Codebreaker . Headline Publishing Group, London, 2023. 418 pages, Hardcover, £25.00. ISBN978-1-4722-9547-7.

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1 Chionna comments on page 61 that Hay, who was passed over (in favor of Alastair Denniston) to be the head of the Government Code and Cypher School after the war, destroyed most of the records of MI1(b). She calls Hay’s decision “at best vindictive and at worst an act of archival vandalism of the most reprehensible kind.” Chionna notes that an album called “The Cork Street Book” that was compiled after the war by Hay’s staff as a memento and is now held at the University of Aberdeen is a resource for the history of MI1(b). (57)Additional informationNotes on contributorsChris ChristensenChris Christensen teaches cryptology and mathematics at Northern Kentucky University. One of his cryptologic interests is World War II Japanese ciphers.