Since we’ve been covering the Battle of Britain, I wonder if you could shed some light on the related Battle of the Beams? I took a train from Cambridge to London a few weeks ago. The line runs past Alexandara Palace, which still has the old BBC 45 MHz television transmitter sitting on top of it. Call it collective unconscious, but something in me called ‘WWII’, and a quick Wikipedia search revealed that the transmitter was used to disrupt the Germans’ Wotan system. A man called R. V. Jones was the master mind of the operation. The Wikipedia page is semi-decent, but alas, the information is ultimately quite scarce. I’d love to know more about the use of this transmitter, and the effect it had on the Blitz of London. Was it really all that critical, and suppressed for the sake of intelligence; or just a minor footnote in the battle?
It’s such an under represented part of the British war effort. Very few outside of specialist studies seem to know about it. Or am I being ignorant?
FYI: thanks Indie et al for the amazing work. I use you as an example to my students of what can be achieved outside of academia, and as an example of modern public intellectualism. Please keep going and don’t stop!