Enigma: who was really who

The historical accuracy of Mick Jagger's film, Enigma, is well-documented.

The Bletchley Park codebreakers really were blacked out and this really did lead to multiple sinkings of Allied ships in mid-Atlantic after the Germans altered their naval code. But what has not come out is the authenticity of the main characters.

Like any good novelist, Robert Harris, on whose book the film is based, insists that no single real-life codebreaker is the model for the roles portrayed.

But for anyone who has delved into what went on, there are striking similarities between the characters on screen and the real-life personalities.

Codebreakers

Kate Winslet (Hester): the Blonde's mousey flatmate who outwits the men and breaks the code.

There were not many female cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park. But one of the most successful was Mavis Lever, who at the age of 19 broke the Italian naval Enigma, exploiting techniques she had been taught by her boss, Dilly Knox, one of the codebreaking stars at Bletchley Park

Mavis is still alive, and advised Kate Winslet about her role. Like Winslet's Hester, Mavis was a young woman with an independent spirit: she demonstrated outside the German Embassy during the late 1930s, she sewed red flags for those fighting the fascists during the Spanish Civil War, and she fasted once a week so she could afford to contribute to the communist cause.

But the most significant similarity between the real-life codebreaker and her screen alter ego was that, like Hester, Mavis became close to the man who taught her everything she knew about codebreaking.

Dougray Scott (Tom Jericho): the absentminded codebreaker brought back to break the code after becoming ill.

Tom Jericho's character is partly based on Alan Turing, the bestknown codebreaker at Bletchley Park, and partly on Harry Hinsley, the young naval intelligence officer who helped Turing break the naval Enigma code by pointing out that unprotected German weatherships must have Enigma codebooks on board as they were being sent Enigma messages. But the closest fit is Dilly Knox, whose techniques were used to break both the Italian and the German secret service Enigmas.

Like Jericho, Knox was eccentric and absent-minded. He would walk around Bletchley Park in his dressing-gown, forgetting he was not dressed, and stuff his sandwiches instead of tobacco into his pipe.

Another characteristic shared by Knox and Jericho is that both liked to drive their cars very fast. Knox even created a pseudo-mathematical theory to support his speeding. A very dangerous driver, he was famous for remarking innocently: "It's strange how people are always saying sorry when you nearly run them over." Like Jericho, Knox loved pretty women. He fell for Mavis Lever while teaching her about breaking the Italian Enigma code. Later he was hurt when told she wanted to marry another codebreaker.