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Old 12th Dec 2018, 10:19 pm   #1
David G4EBT
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Default Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

I occasionally buy books from Postscript who sell 'remaindered' stocks at discounted prices.

I noted one that I thought might be of interest to forum members who have an interest in 'Station X' and Bletchley Park.

Synopsis from Postscript's site:

"As Anne Segrave approached old age and dementia, her daughter Elisa was faced with the daunting task of sorting through her mother's belongings and was astonished to find a cache of Second World War diaries that revealed an adventurous woman she barely recognized. This biographical account describes Anne's wartime adventures through Bletchley Park, Bomber Command and a newly liberated Germany, and includes many extracts from the original diaries".

It's a 368 page Illustrated paperback with a publisher price of £9.99, now £3.99

https://www.psbooks.co.uk/The-Girl-f...-9781781312506

Hope that might interest someone.

There were some remarkable people of that era.

Back in the early 1970s I was secretary of the Grimsby Amateur Radio Society. Each year an exhibition was held at Cleethorpes Memorial Hall called 'Hobbies for All' which featured a range of hobbies such as model engineering, aero-modelling, model boats and so on. The Amateur Radio Society had a stand and set up a station. I'd made a Morse oscillator, as much as anything to amuse passing children, much to the annoyance of others.

A very ordinary looking lady in her late 50s, early 60s stopped for a minute and sent perfect Morse at a speed beyond which I could copy. She said "once you've learnt it, you never forget it do you?" I asked where she'd learnt to send Morse like that and she said 'I was in SOE during the war, parachuted into France as a radio operator'. I said 'strewth, that must have been scary'. She said she was more scared of jumping out of a plane than the risk of being caught by the Germans. She went on to say that they were given a cyanide capsule to use if caught but that she'd thrown hers away. She said "in war, you're supposed to die at the hands of the enemy - not your own hands", then wandered off leaving me dumbstruck.

Me? I'd have guarded that capsule with my life!
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Old 12th Dec 2018, 10:45 pm   #2
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

My only claims to fame with Station X is that I got busted in the same courthouse as Alan Turing (not the same year I hasten to add) and later on got so far as being interviewed for a job in one of the huts at Bletchley.

Lawrence.
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Old 19th Dec 2018, 3:45 pm   #3
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Thanks for the tip, David. Looks like an interesting read, so I've ordered a copy. Tony
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Old 19th Dec 2018, 6:13 pm   #4
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Thanks David I have just ordered 2 copies.

Bob
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Old 19th Dec 2018, 7:36 pm   #5
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Thank you, David. I love finding out about a life well-lived and also have a long interest in intel, wartime resistance and cryptography. So duly ordered!
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Old 19th Dec 2018, 8:09 pm   #6
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Thank you also David,I too have ordered a copy and look forward in due course to a great read.
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Old 22nd Dec 2018, 11:19 am   #7
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Just about to download this to my kindle. However the reviews on Amazon don't seem to praise it very much, it seems there is very little actually about Bletchley in it.
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Old 22nd Dec 2018, 11:31 am   #8
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Interesting. I once left the cockpit at work and was chatting to an old lady about the plane (airbus). She seemed interested so I asked her if she had flown much, expecting her to say 'no'. Oh yes, she said...lancs, spits, hurris....


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Old 25th Dec 2018, 11:25 am   #9
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Thanks for the link David I have ordered a copy. Theirs was a generation of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. As a kid I used to listen to my uncles tales of his days as a flight engineer on Sunderland flying boats on very long anti u boat patrols in the N Atlantic from Castle Archdale. One of his least favourite duties I recall was going back up the tail to the flare chute to drop the several million candle power flares to illuminate the u boats....they were on an arming line .....which if fouled would set the flare off just under the aircraft in the slipstream and had been known to melt through the fuselage and the tail to fall off :0( His aircraft ultimately was wrecked hitting a submerged tree trunk on landing, as his landing station was in the front turret for mooring he was very badly injured. My dad who was in the navy got leave to visit his brother in hospital in Belfast, while there the rest of the crew took off on another patrol in a new aircraft but flew straight into a mountain in low cloud killing all of them. When he passed away years later I did see my uncles log book and the entry for the crash which hospitalised him for months leading to plastic surgery simply ended with “shaky do”. At the time I knew him he was he was an unassuming church caretaker in semi retirement.
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Old 25th Dec 2018, 12:59 pm   #10
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

As David said initially, "some remarkable people". I will get a copy. There have been several books of this nature helpfully flagged up over the years. I suppose they can lead to disappointment if perceived to be lacking on the technical side but of course, they are generally very personal accounts so that's not [necessarily] the name of the game. No "risk assessment" for your uncle there eh Whaam? My uncle was hit by a 500lb bomb during the war and subsequently died on Christmas Eve. People are often puzzled by this until I explain that he was a bomb loader in the RAF. Unfortunately, this massive item slipped a short distance in its straps, while it was being lifted and struck him on the head. Very sad but I suspect your uncle was taking the greater risk-routinely!

During a long thread re the R1155 Receiver a few years ago there was mention of one variation that had extra coverage-particularly around "Top Band" ie the Coastal frequencies as well. I'd never heard of this or seen them on sale in the "surplus" era but one or two then turned up, including on E-Bay. It was confirmed [I think] that Flying Boats had these models fitted during and after the war!
Maybe the ones that your uncle flew in?

Dave W

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Old 25th Dec 2018, 1:07 pm   #11
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

I spotted a couple of books being advertised by the RSGB and bought them out of interest. One was about someone involved in early radar, the title revolved around this as did the descriptive text. The content of the book was all about wartime family life and being moved around the place, absolutely nothing about what he actually did. I was gravely disappointed and promptly gave both away. Since then I've seen several similar titles and had a peer inside and found essentially the same thing.

I suppose the authors get told that each word of technical content will halve their sales (Hawking was told that every equation would halve sales of 'a brief history...')

David
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Old 25th Dec 2018, 9:18 pm   #12
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Hi Dave W
Terribly bad luck re your uncle. My lot got off relatively lightly really, apart from my one uncle on the flying boats, my dad's ship was mined out in the Far East but settled in 20ft of water with no casualties and another uncle survived Italy driving a Sherman tank. Interesting re the radios and coastal frequencies, my uncle only served in Short Sunderlands. I still have the colour “manual” he gave me for the Bristol Pegasus engines somewhere. Yes no “health and safety” back then!

Best, Mike.
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Old 25th Dec 2018, 10:16 pm   #13
dave walsh
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Hi Mike. I believe my uncle Jack was quite interested in music and played piano so he would probably have been a relative I really wanted to meet. A lot of people suffered that sort of loss though of course

Dave
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Old 26th Dec 2018, 1:12 am   #14
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

I recently found a WW1 photograph of my great-uncle as a trainee radio op for the RFC. I had no idea he'd been in the services, or had an interest in radio. I just knew him as a clever man who liked talking about mysteries of the universe. Our family was lucky; as far as I know there were no deaths in either war, and only one injury when my grandfather broke his leg serving in France.
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Old 26th Dec 2018, 11:12 am   #15
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Hi Sue
I’d love to see that photo. I’ve recently been clearing a cupboard to decorate and found some pics which probably set me off on this but for those interested here is a couple of pics from my phone. The local paper was from 1978 when the RAF museum Hendon got their Sunderland, they were looking for ex crew to do a story which my Uncle loved.
Mike
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Old 27th Dec 2018, 1:52 pm   #16
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Here you go Mike.
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Old 28th Dec 2018, 2:08 pm   #17
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Sadly the book turned out to be mainly about the intricate details of the personal lives of the authour's family. (Yawn).
Personally, I'm unsuprised that it was sold as a "remaindered off" item.
Very little of interest from the radio aspect.
I hear the voices saying "Well, what do you expect for £2? " Quite so.
It will be put in the book-case, nevertheless. Tony.
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Old 29th Dec 2018, 7:52 am   #18
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Currently read the first couple of chapters on my Kindle version (£3.79 from Amazon), yet to find anything relevant to our interests and still to work out what it is all about - mainly about the daughter and her relationship to her mother rather than much about mother herself.
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Old 30th Dec 2018, 1:25 am   #19
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

Bother .. I've ordered one online.

Oh well -
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Old 30th Dec 2018, 10:04 am   #20
dave walsh
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Default Re: Book: “The Girl from Station X - My Mother's Unknown Life”

I wouldn't despair at this point. If you are the sort of person who only wants to read the intricate details of circuitry or technological development well, fair enough but life is a bit more rounded than that usually and there is always the "capacity" to be surprised by what you read, technical or not [p10*]. David did set out the stall very clearly in post 1*after all. In the end it's "human beans" behind the science and not the other way round as the various plays and films about Bletchley illustrate. Enigma with Kate Winslet being my particular favourite.

Dave W
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