The Cold War and British Coders

What did you do in the Cold War, Grandad?

Telling stories about covert activities during the Cold War could have landed us in prison only a few years ago. Now Tony Cash, one of the authors and compilers of a new book, The Coder Special Archive, with an introduction written by Alan Bennett (another former national serviceman who learnt Russian), will reveal how he, along with seventy plus former 1950s national service Naval conscripts, learned Russian, spied on the Soviet military and shed light on the East-West conflict.

Everyone has heard of oral history; this book may be the first ever email history: nearly all the personal recollections were sent electronically. They recount the hazards of selection for the Navy; hilarious incidents in basic training; the perils of life at sea; grappling with a very difficult foreign language, leavened by films, novels and songs; training in top secret radio eavesdropping techniques; monitoring Soviet ships and planes exercising in the Baltic and North seas; broadcasting to Russia or illuminating British readers, listeners and TV viewers about developments in the USSR.

Tony Cash will give a fascinating illustrated talk with video clips and readings on his and others’ experiences as ‘Coders’ along with annecdotes from his long career working in radio and TV. Tony Cash’s forty-year career in radio and TV production included a spell broadcasting Russian language musical and cultural programmes to the Soviet Union. He was a founder Producer/Director of the South Bank Show. Several of his programmes have earned international and Royal Television Society awards.