When Britain found itself at war with Japan, it was desperately short of fluent Japanese speakers to help with the many translation tasks – including codebreaking. Young men and women with a language talent were urgently recruited and given crash courses in Japanese and sent overseas with their new skills. Some went to India, some to Mauritius and a secret radio intercept station, some to Australia to work with Australian and American codebreakers.

David Eunson, KGS medal winner as a student, and afterwards Stromness Academy Latin teacher, put his language skills to the service of his country and joined a small group of wartime decoders in Australia whose efforts made a significant contribution to the war effort.

As part of the Orkney International Science Festival, OJA board member Prof. Peter Kornicki tells the story of linguists at war – and how the Brisbane decrypting and translating team included a young man from Orkney, David Eunson, who would in the post-war world return to his studies at Edinburgh University and eventually teach Latin at Stromness Academy.

This event is on 3 September at 9pm at the Orkney Theatre and tickets are available through the following link: EAVESDROPPING ON THE EMPEROR – Orkney International Science Festival