Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A small boat rescues a seaman from the 31,800 ton USS West Virginia
This podcast episode is a work of historical fiction written to teach listeners, in an entertaining way, about the background and major events that happened during the battle.
Youtube link for the episode with four battle related fictional images:
Jan Slimming is a publishing professional who was six when she first heard of Bletchley Park, but it was decades later that she was compelled to research and write about this little-known part of her mother’s life. We spoke about the book, her mother’s code-breaking career and her father’s WWII captivity. Codebreaker Girls: A Secret Life at Bletchley Park (Pen and Sword Military, 2021)
0:38 – Jan talks about why she wrote about her mom’s WWII work at Bletchley Park.
5:39 – Jan talks about what the book focuses on.
10:44 – Jan talks about everyone at Bletchley Park being billeted nearby.
12:34 – Jan talks about the training or lack of among the Park personnel.
14:35 – Jan talks about how her parents met.
16:46 – Jan talks about the skills they used for code breaking.
20:49 – Jan talks about her mother’s relatives who also worked in code breaking.
23:24 – Jan talks about what her mom did after the war.
24:51 – Jan talks about her mom not talking about working for the India office.
26:49 – Jan talks about how she broke the book down.
28:31 – Jan talks about her research.
31:26 – Jan talks about touring Bletchley Park.
35:18 – Jan talks about going back to England for her research.
38:25 – Jan talks about wanting to know if her mother was assigned to finding the 18th division.
40:23 – Jan talks about her mother going through a nervous breakdown after the war.
45:45 – Jan talks about other people who had relatives at Bletchley Park reach out to her.
52:39 – Jan goes into detail about touring Bletchley Park.
53:54 – Jan talks about security at Bletchley Park.
57:30 – Jan talks about her mother meeting Ian Fleming and knowing Alan Turing.
1:00:21 – Jan is on Pen and Sword and on Facebook at Jan Slimming Author.
Nathan Gorenstein is a former reporter and editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he covered city and state politics. He is also the author of Tommy Gun Winter, the story of a Boston gang from the 1930s that included an MIT graduate, a minister’s daughter, and two of Gorenstein’s own relatives. He recently published a biography of John Moses Browning. We spoke about Browning and the history of firearms. The Guns of John Moses Browning: The Remarkable Story of the Inventor Whose Firearms Changed the World (Scribner, 2021)
0:40 – Nathan talks about why he wrote a book on Browning.
3:00 – Nathan talks about having been a reporter.
4:40 – Nathan talks about the gun industry and Browning.
6:47 – Nathan talks about Browning’s early life and education.
11:58 – Nathan talks about the quantities the Browning’s made their guns in and how they ran their business.
14:37 – Nathan talks about why Browning’s designs stood out.
18:14 – Nathan talks about Browning’s competitors.
21:44 – Nathan talks about the popularity of Browning’s guns.
26:41 – Nathan talks about the wars Browning’s guns were used in.
29:45 – Nathan talks about Browning’s guns being adapted for aircraft.
32:21 – Nathan talks about unusual Browning designs.
36:22 – Nathan talked about Browning’s personal interest in shotgun.
37:45 – Nathan talks about the resources he used.
42:47 – Nathan talks about the things that surprised him.
46:00 – Nathan wonders what Browning might think of modern gun use.
47:40 – Nathan talks about Browning’s wife.
48:52 – Nathan talks about Winchester.
55:39 – Nathan can be found at NathanGorenstein.com
