Secret code breaker

Blanche Martin had only been working as a cipher assistant for a few months during World War II when she accidentally decoded an important message meant for her superiors' eyes only.

She should not have figured out that King George VI was planning a historic visit to Malta on June 20, 1943 - his first visit since he had awarded the George Cross to Malta for the heroism of its people during World War II.

When she realised the importance of the classified message, she decided it would be safer not to let anyone know she knew.

It was only some 50 years later that she broke her silence after being assured the wartime moratorium was over and she could speak safely.

"I was the first to know," the 90-year-old dame says with a grin, as she recalls the exciting event that happened almost 70 years ago.

Ms Martin was a teacher by profession and, in March 1943, she accepted a post as a cipher assistant at the British naval headquarters in Lascaris Wharf during the war.

She and her colleagues were known as "cipherenes" and their jobs entailed decoding signals that usually consisted of a string of random numbers that could be translated into letters and words.

One day, on June 18, she walked in for her shift that started at 11 p.m. and noticed there was a signal that had been left standing since about 8 a.m.

"It had five columns, with six numbers in each column... When I looked at it I realised why it had not been decoded... It was excessively scrambled," she recalls.

Instead of putting the message aside she concentrated on it and kept trying to understand the nature of its complicated code.

Messages, she explains, were usually preceded by an "address" that set the theme of the message. In this particular case, she found it impossible to decode the address, so she decided to move on to the text.

As the clock ticked, in the early hours of June 19, she managed to decode the message. "I was really surprised when I broke the code and read: HM (His Majesty) the king will be coming to Malta," she recalls.

These words provided a clue to decoding the address which to her dismay read: "Priority. Hush, hush, most secret. To be deciphered by the flag lieutenant to the vice admiral only".

It was only at that point that she realised she should not have decoded that signal so she kept her newly found information to herself and handed the message over to her duty officer, feigning ignorance.

Later that morning she was listening to the Rediffusion (a cable radio network) and heard the news that the King was coming to Malta the following day - June 20.

King George arrived at the Grand Harbour just after 8 a.m. and was taken on a tour to show him the devastation inflicted by the air raids.

Half a century after the King's visit, Ms Martin disclosed her little secret for the first time during a function in 1993. Recently, she recounted the story again to The Times.

Her clear, blue eyes are a window to her youthful spirit that springs out through her passion for philanthropic work. She proudly wears the three badges she earned through her years of hard work and dedication - the National Order of Merit, the Knights of Malta and Member of the Order of the British Empire badges.

Ms Martin was a founding member of the National Council of Women and Din l-Art Ħelwa and founder of the Friends of the Little Sisters of the Poor.

She was also involved in the British Culture Association and George Cross Association and was awarded the Elderly of the Year award in 1991.