Peter John Ambrose Calvocoressi (17 November 1912 – 5 February 2010) was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
lawyer, Liberal politician, historian, and publisher. He served as an intelligence officer at
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Early years
Calvocoressi was born in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
, now in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
, to a family of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
origins from the island of
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of masti ...
. His mother, Irene (
née Ralli), was descended from one of the founders of
Ralli Brothers
The five Ralli brothers, Zannis a.k.a. John (1785–1859), Augustus (1792–1878),
Pandia a.k.a. Zeus (1793–1865),
Toumazis (1799–1858), and
Eustratios (1800–84), founded Ralli Brothers, perhaps the most successful expatriate Greek merchant ...
, who were prominent Greek families of Chios who came to London at the time of the
Greek Diaspora
The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia ( el, Ομογένεια, Omogéneia), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus (excluding Northern Cyprus). Such places historically include Albania, North Macedonia, parts of ...
. When he was three months old, the family moved to
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Calvocoressi's father Pandia had spent the first seven years of his life in Manchester and the next ten at San Stefano (on the outskirts of
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
). He attended the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
from the age of 17 for three years and then joined the family firm in New York. Pandia Calvocoressi and Irene Ralli married in London in 1910. Shortly afterwards Pandia was posted to India where Calvocoressi was born. His mother and maternal grandmother were both born in India but spent most of their lives in England.
In 1926 he was elected a scholar of
Eton in second place, a position which he retained for the greater part of the next five years. Switching from the standard Classical curriculum to History, he was taught by, among others, the young
Robert Birley. At
Balliol College, Oxford, in 1931–1934, he was tutored in Modern History mainly by B. H. Sumner and
V. H. Galbraith, obtaining a First.
Career
He was
called to the Bar in 1935 and worked in Chancery Chambers until the outbreak of World War II. He spent most of the war as an
RAF Intelligence
Intelligence services in the Royal Air Force are delivered by Officers of the Royal Air Force Intelligence Branch and Airmen from the Intelligence Analyst Trade and Intelligence Analyst (Voice) Trade. The specialisation has around 1,200 person ...
officer at GC&CS
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...
. He worked in '
Hut 3
Hut 3 was a section of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park during World War II. It retained the name for its functions when it moved into Block D. It produced military intelligence codenamed ULTRA from the decrypts ...
', where decrypted
Enigma
Enigma may refer to:
*Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling
Biology
*ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain
Computing and technology
* Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup
* Enigma machine, a family ...
messages were translated and analysed, and
Ultra
adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. ' ...
intelligence was prepared for dispatch to commanders in the field. Calvocoressi rose to be head of the Air Section, which dealt with
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
intelligence.
In summer 1945, he was accredited by British Intelligence to obtain evidence for all four Chief Prosecutors at the
International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. As a member of the British prosecution team, he cross-examined former German Field Marshal
Gerd von Rundstedt
Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt (12 December 1875 – 24 February 1953) was a German field marshal in the '' Heer'' (Army) of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Born into a Prussian family with a long military tradition, Rundstedt entered th ...
during the trial. Calvocoressi later advised the US Chief Prosecutor (General
Telford Taylor
Telford Taylor (February 24, 1908 – May 23, 1998) was an American lawyer and professor. Taylor was known for his role as lead counsel in the prosecution of war criminals after World War II, his opposition to McCarthyism in the 1950s, and his o ...
), who had been his Bletchley colleague, in some of the American follow-up trials (1946–1949).
In 1945, he contested the General Election, as the
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
candidate for
Nuneaton, finishing third.
In 1950–1955 he worked at the Royal Institute for Foreign Affairs (
Chatham House
Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute headquartered in London. Its stated mission is to provide commentary on world events and offer solutions to global challenges. It is ...
), writing five volumes in the series of ''Annual Surveys of International Affairs'', which had previously been written by
Arnold Toynbee. From 1955 to 1966, he was a partner in the publishing firms of
Chatto and Windus and the
Hogarth Press
The Hogarth Press is a book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House that was founded as an independent company in 1917 by British authors Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond (then in Surrey and n ...
. From 1966 to 1973, he was Reader in International Relations at the
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
, a post which was created for him.
In 1973 he was enticed back to publishing by the offer of the newly created post of Editor-in-Chief of
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Pearson Longman
Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC.
Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...]
, and was removed in 1976.
During this period (1955-1976) he was for ten years a part-time member of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and was Chairman of the Africa Bureau, the
London Library
The London Library is an independent lending library in London, established in 1841. It was founded on the initiative of Thomas Carlyle, who was dissatisfied with some of the policies at the British Museum Library. It is located at 14 St James' ...
, Chios Charities, and
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
Enterprises Ltd. He also served on the governing bodies of Chatham House, the
Institute of Strategic Studies
The Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI), () is a strategic studies think tank based in Islamabad, Pakistan established in 1973. It is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan. Its most famous member is the nationalis ...
, and
Amnesty International.
He wrote twenty books, mostly on contemporary history; one of these – ''World Politics Since 1945'' – passed through nine editions. ''Threading My Way'', an autobiography, appeared in 1994. He set private life before and above his career and never had cause to question this priority.
In 1990, he was awarded an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
by the Open University.
Bibliography
* ''Nuremberg: The Facts, the Law and the Consequences'', 1948
* ''Survey of International Affairs 1947-1948'', 1952
* ''Survey of International Affairs 1949-1950'', 1953
* ''Survey of International Affairs 1951'', 1954
* ''Survey of International Affairs 1952'', 1955
* ''Survey of International Affairs 1953'', 1956
* ''Middle East Crisis'' (with Guy Wint), 1957
* ''South Africa and World Opinion'', 1961
* ''World Order and New States: Problems of Keeping the Peace'', 1962
* ''Suez: Ten Years After'' (with Anthony Moncrieff), 1967
* ''World Politics Since 1945'', 1968; 2008, 9th ed.
* ''Total War: Causes and Courses of the Second World War'' (with Guy Wint and John Pritchard), 1972
* ''The British Experience 1945-75'', 1978
* ''Freedom to Publish'' (with Ann Bristow), 1980
* ''Top Secret Ultra'', 1980
* ''From Byzantium to Eton: A Memoir of a Millennium'', 1980
* ''New Alignments'' (with Philip Windsor), 1982
* ''Independent Africa and the World'', 1985
* ''A Time for Peace'', 1987
* ''Who's Who in the Bible'', 1987
* ''Resilient Europe: A Study of the Years 1870-2000'', 1991
* ''The Cold War as Episode'', 1993
* ''Threading My Way'', 1994 (autobiography)
* ''Fall Out: World War II and the Shaping of Postwar Europe'', 1997
* ''The Penguin History of the Second World War'', 2 vol., 1999
* ''World Politics 1945-2000'', 2000 (= 8th ed. of ''World Politics Since 1945'')
* ''Television In College Education'', 2005
See also
*
History of cryptography
Cryptography, the use of codes and ciphers to protect secrets, began thousands of years ago. Until recent decades, it has been the story of what might be called classical cryptography — that is, of methods of encryption that use pen and paper, ...
*
Cryptanalysis of the Enigma
Cryptanalysis of the Enigma ciphering system enabled the western Allies in World War II to read substantial amounts of Morse-coded radio communications of the Axis powers that had been enciphered using Enigma machines. This yielded military in ...
Notes
''Interview with Peter Calvocoressi''by Roger Adelson
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Imperial War Museum Interview from 1987Imperial War Museum Interview from 1993
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvocoressi, Peter
1912 births
2010 deaths
Military personnel of British India
Academics of the University of Sussex
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
British historians
British people of Greek descent
GCHQ cryptographers
People educated at Eton College
People from Karachi
Bletchley Park people
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
Chatham House people
Foreign Office personnel of World War II
English barristers