Software developer Craig Longhurst has always had a keen interest in all things technical. In 2002 he got the idea of building a working Enigma, the well-known German cipher machine of which various civil and military versions were produced from 1923 throughout the Second World War.

Craig decided to build the famous Enigma I but designing the rotors with their internal wiring and contacts proved complex. Over the years, he learned laser cutting for the rotor contact holes and later 3D printing for the discs. These were only a few of the many obstacles that required quite a bit of work and imagination, not only to construct the electrical parts, but also various mechanical components, all made with Meccano parts.

Although he considered the rotors the most difficult part, it would be quite an understatement to call the Meccano construction of the Enigma, the keyboard with numerous switches, the contacts and lamp panel "easy". The result of his creativity was a fully working Meccano Enigma I in 2024.

Craig's Enigma is published in the Constructor Quarterly issue No 145 and if you're interested in Enigma and Meccano, you're in for a real treat. The issue has 16 pages on his Enigma, with 26 excellent highly detailed photos from all parts, accompanied by information about the development and construction. Available as back issue, sent all over the world. In the video you get an idea of how complex Craig's project was, and why it took 22 years to complete his award-winning Enigma.

When George Lasry, Norbert Biermann and Satoshi Tomokiyo started deciphering more than fifty letters they found in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, they unexpectedly discovered that these were letters presumed lost, written by the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587, painting circa 1559).

In 1567, Mary Stuart was forced to abdicate and imprisoned in the Scottish Lochleven castle but escaped the next year to England. Since Mary had a claim to the English throne, she was a threat to her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, who kept her captive in England. Still, Mary remained involved in plots to take the throne.

In 1586, Anthony Babington, the leader of a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, established a secret communications channel for Mary Stuart. However, Sir Francis Walsingham, secretary and spymaster of Elizabeth, had placed several spies in Mary's circle, compromising the Babington plot. When Mary did not object to the assassination of Elizabeth in a letter to Babington, she sealed her fate. Her conspirators were executed in September 1586 and Mary Stuart, 44 years old, followed on 8 February 1587.

It was known thar Mary corresponded with here allies though encrypted letters, but many of those were believed to have been lost. Most of Mary's recently discovered letters were addressed to Michel de Castelnau, the French ambassador to Londen. Although they are 445 years old, deciphering them still proved to be a complex task for the codebreakers. They later found plaintext versions of some letters in the British Archives, probably leaked to Walsingham by spies in Mary's entourage.

A fascinating story of deceit and treason, uncovered by the three talented codebreakers in 2023. Their codebreaking achievement is published in Cryptologia. See also the YouTube talk with George Lasry, the DECRYPT project, and Mary's ciphers and plaintexts at Cryptiana.

To understand the animosities between Mary and Elizabeth, watch the BBC documentary below.