Alec Naylor Dakin facts for kids
Alec Naylor Dakin (born April 3, 1912 – died June 14, 2003) was a very smart person who worked at University College, Oxford. He was a cryptologist at Bletchley Park during World War II, which means he was a codebreaker. He was also an Egyptologist, someone who studies ancient Egypt, and a school teacher.
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Early Life and Family
Alec Dakin was born in 1912 in a place called Mytholmroyd in Yorkshire, England. His father, Bertram Alexander Dakin, was an inventor who created things like carving knives and saws. His mother was Annie Louise Naylor. Alec came from a family that liked to invent! He was very bright and won a scholarship to Heath School in Halifax.
Becoming a Scholar
After Heath School, Alec won another scholarship, this time to Queen's College, Oxford, which is a famous university. There, he studied "Greats," which is a special course about ancient Greek and Roman history, literature, and philosophy. He even took walks with Harold Wilson, who later became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom!
Alec's teacher, Oliver Franks, encouraged him to start studying Egyptology, the study of ancient Egypt. He also learned a lot from Professor Battiscombe Gunn, a famous English Egyptologist. In 1936, when Alec was just 24 years old, he became a Fellow at University College, Oxford. This meant he was a senior member of the college, involved in teaching and research.
Becoming a Codebreaker
Alec was very good at languages and learned to speak German fluently. This skill became super important when World War II started. In 1940, his life changed completely. He was asked by the British government to work as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. This was a top-secret place where brilliant minds worked to break enemy codes.
Alec worked in a special building called Hut 4. He worked alongside many other clever people, including the very famous mathematician and computer scientist, Alan Turing. Alan Turing was in charge of many of the codebreakers. Alec later said that working at Bletchley Park was one of the happiest times of his life. He especially enjoyed the challenge of breaking codes before the Colossus computer started doing much of the work.
Breaking the Enigma Code
Alec's main job was to quickly translate the secret German naval messages that had been decoded from the Enigma machine. The Enigma machine was a complex device used by the Germans to send secret messages. Alec had to figure out which of these messages were most important for the British Admiralty, which was the part of the British government in charge of the Royal Navy.
Important Secret Messages
Alec read many important secret messages. One famous message he saw was from the German battleship Bismarck. It said something like: "Very urgent. Torpedo hit the back. Ship cannot move. We will fight until our last bullet. Long live the Fuehrer." This message helped the British Navy track and sink the Bismarck.
Another message might simply tell a sailor on a German submarine that his home had been bombed. Alec was also one of the first people to read a message saying "The Fuehrer Adolf Hitler is dead." However, this message was sent too early, as Hitler actually survived the assassination attempt it was talking about.
Top Secret Work
Like everyone else at Bletchley Park, Alec had to promise to keep his work a complete secret. He couldn't talk about it with anyone, not even his wife, Joan, whom he married in 1953. He even tried to join the Royal Navy, but he wasn't allowed because he knew too many secrets. The government didn't want to risk him being captured by the enemy.
Life After the War
After the war ended, Alec decided not to go back to Oxford University. Instead, he chose to become a school teacher. He believed he could help build a better world by teaching young people and guiding them when they were growing up. In 1946, he started teaching classics (ancient Greek and Roman studies) at Kingswood School in Bath. He taught there until he retired in 1969.
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