A few days ago, a lovely English old woman named Mavis Batey passed away. He was 92 years old, which is not bad. With it goes one of the last cryptanalysts of Bletchley Park, the mythical station where England deciphered the most important enemy messages during World War II.

Since the end of the seventies the survivors of Bletchley Park were authorized to speak, History with capital letters has changed. Now you know how and why Germany lost crucial battles during World War II. The great battles of the Afrika Korps, the Battle of Britain, the invasion of Normandy, the battle of the Atlantic, had to be rewritten and re-evaluated. Bletchley Park itself, after years of uncertain destiny, is now a historical museum that every cryptologist should visit (I was lucky to do it once, and I recommend it). The main protagonists have already told their story, directly or through third parties; but one person decided to remain in a discreet background.

Mavis Batey never wanted prominence. He did his war work, he married another cryptanalyst, he lived happily with him for sixty years, he wrote some books on gardening, all with great discretion. Although there are some articles about her, her story is yet to be written. Today I'm going to do my bit to fill that gap. What follows is a brief sketch that, I fear, does not do it justice. but what I want to share with you. Some details are known to have been published previously, and I recommend this Telegraph article recently appeared.