Peter Twinn - Education and Codebreaking

Education and Codebreaking

Born in Streatham, South London, Twinn was the son of a senior General Post Office official. After attending Manchester Grammar School and Dulwich College, he graduated in mathematics at Brasenose College, Oxford. He won a scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies in Physics.

Twinn joined GC&CS—Britain's codebreaking service—in early 1939, recruited after seeing an advertisement, working first in London before moving to Bletchley Park. He worked with Dilly Knox and Alan Turing on German Enigma ciphers. In early 1942, he became the head of the Abwehr Enigma section.

Twinn was the first British cryptographer to read a German military Enigma message, having obtained vital information from Polish cryptanalysts in July 1939. Twinn stated that, "It was a trifling exercise, but I repeat for the umpteenth time, no credit to me."