A   dance   to   the   memory   of   HUGH   FOSS   and   the   initial   movements   in   this   dance   are   similar   to   those   in   Hugh's dance Caller Herrin'. Hugh Foss 1902 - 1971 A brief biography, formerly displayed in the ‘Hall of Fame’ in Bletchley Park mansion. Hugh   Foss   was   a   brilliant   codebreaker   and   linguist   who   led   the   team   working   on   Japanese   naval   cyphers   at   BP   in World   War   2.   He   had   been   the   first   at   GCCS   to   propose   a   way   of   breaking   Enigma,   and   the   first   to   succeed   with Turing’s   technique   for   reducing   the   possible   wheel   orders,   Banburismus.   He   broke   two   Japanese   machine   codes   in the   1930s,   and   led   the   team   on   Japanese   naval   codes   with   very   considerable   success.   His   lanky   figure,   straggly red beard, and absent-minded habits put him in the forefront of the great BP eccentrics. Hugh   Rose   Foss   was   born   in   Japan   on   13   May   1902,   one   of   five   children   of   the   Anglican   Bishop   of   Osaka.   He   was sent   home   to   school   but   was   able   to   keep   up   his   Japanese   during   the   summer   holidays.   He   went   to   Marlborough and then to Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics, French and Spanish. He   joined   GCCS   in   December   1924.   In   1927   he   proposed   a   way   of   breaking   Enigma   that   paved   the   way   for   Dilly Knox’s   breaking   of   the   Italian   naval   Enigma   in   1937,   and   so   to   the   breaking   of   the   German   military   version   of   the Enigma   machine   in   1940.   Then   in   September   1934   Hugh   Foss   and   Oliver   Strachey   broke   the   new   Japanese   naval attaché   cypher,   soon   followed   by   the   Japanese   diplomatic   machine   cypher,   the   first   machine   cyphers   broken systematically by GCCS. Under   pressure   to   break   German   naval   Enigma,   he   was   working   with   Alan   Turing   in   Hut   8   in   the   spring   of   1940. Turing   had   invented   a   statistical   procedure   for   ruling   out   certaincode-wheel   orders,   so   that   they   could   make efficient   use   of   the   little   available   bombe   time.   This   technique   was   known   as   “Banburismus”,   as   it   was   carried out   using   special   very   long   sheets   of   paper   produced   in   Banbury.   It   proved   to   be   very   difficult   to   work,   but   Hugh Foss   was   not   to   be   beaten   and   for   weeks   he   worked   on   an   intercepted   message   for   8   May   1940   in   spare   moments. Finally   in   November   1940   it   succumbed,   8   May   becoming   known   in   Hut   8   as   “Foss   Day”.   Now   “Banburismus” became a standard procedure in Hut 8. In   March   1941   Hugh   Foss   went   back   full   time   to   head   the   Japanese   naval   cryptography   section,   which   expanded very   fast   as   the   Japanese   war   approached,   and   finally   reached   over   120   people   in   March   1945,   growing   even larger   for   the   few   months   after   the   end   of   the   war   in   Europe.   Foss   established   short   training   courses,   primarily for   the   Wrens   who   were   going   out   to   HMS   Anderson   in   Colombo.   There   were   a   considerable   number   of   different Japanese   cyphers,   and   as   the   books   were   changed   frequently,   the   work   of   building   up   the   codebooks   was   very laborious. Hugh   Foss’s   forte   was   as   a   ‘break-in’   man   into   new   Japanese   cyphers.   Towards   the   end   of   1943,   BP   decided   to send   him   to   Washington   to   work   with   the   US   naval   codebreakers’   team.   The   Americans   got   on   remarkably   well with   the   tall,   red-bearded,   sandal   wearing,   eccentric,   dubbing   him   “Lease-Lend   Jesus”.   Hugh   Foss   &   Hugh Alexander   made   a   major   contribution   to   the   US   team   tackling   the   naval   attaché   machine,   Coral,   which   was broken in March 1944. Foss   had   married Alison   Graham   in April   1932,   and   they   had   two   children.   For   such   a   shy   man,   it   was   remarkable that   he   was   an   outstanding   Scottish   dancer,   making   it   a   major   off-duty   activity   at   Bletchley.   He   continued   to work   for   GCHQ   after   the   war,   retiring   in   1953   and   going   to   live   in   Dalry,   Ayrshire.   He   continued   his   Scottish dancing   pursuits,   composing,   compiling   and   publishing   a   number   of   dances.   He   died   there   on   23 rd December 1971.

THE CODE BREAKER   (R4x32)  John Drewry  Stoneywood Collection 1  1- 8 1s   dance   down   round   4s,   cast   back   to   places   &   ½   turn   2H   to   face down   while    2s   stand   for   2   bars   &   dance   down   round   4s   &   cast   to place   while    3s   stand   for   4   bars   &   dance   down   round   4s   &   cast   to place while  4s stand for 6 bars & ½ turn 2H to face up  9-16 All circle 8H round & back 17-24 1M+2L   &   3M+4L   turn   LH   1¼   times   while   1L+2M   &   3L+4M   turn   RH   1¼ times [all now on sides 2 (1)(4) 3], 1s+4s dance ½ R&L to end 2 4 1 3 25-32 2s+4s also 1s+3s dance RH across, 4s+1s dance LH across