Geoffrey Tandy

{{Infobox person

| name = Geoffrey A. Tandy

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1900

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{Death year and age|1969|1900}}

| death_place =

| nationality = British

| other_names =

| occupation = marine biologist, broadcaster

| years_active =

| known_for = Work at Bletchley Park

| notable_works =

}}

Geoffrey A. Tandy (1900–1969) was a British marine biologist and broadcaster.

Life

Tandy graduated from Oxford University in 1921, and pursued graduate studies at Birkbeck College, in the University of London. He was employed at the Natural History Museum in London from 1926 to 1948, specialising in the biology of algae, after which he worked for the British Foreign Office until 1954.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=PX1130|title=Search Results|website=www.nhm.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-08-07}}

During the Second World War he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and rose to the rank of Paymaster Commander. He served throughout the war at Bletchley Park in the Naval Section. In 1941 he was in charge of the research sub-section with responsibility for captured documents, and later he became Head of Technical Intelligence. In 1945 he became a member of TICOM (Technical Intelligence Committee).Bletchley Park Roll of Honour https://bletchleypark.org.uk/roll-of-honour/8889

A friend of T. S. Eliot, Tandy wrote a "Broadcasting Chronicle" for The Criterion,{{cite book|author=Todd Avery|title=Radio Modernism: Literature, Ethics, and the BBC, 1922–1938|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5H7x-OnqpEC&pg=PA139|year=2006|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-0-7546-5517-6|page=139}} and was the first to broadcast Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats in 1937.{{cite book|editor1-last=Eliot|editor1-first=Valerie|editor2-last=Haffenden|editor2-first=John|title=The Letters of T.S. Eliot: Volume 3: 1926–28|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nkOHpKg1Fj0C&pg=PA18|year=2012|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-18889-9|page=18}}Craig R. Whitney (2 November 1991). [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/02/books/2-more-ts-eliot-poems-found-amid-hundreds-of-his-letters.html 2 More T.S. Eliot Poems Found Amid Hundreds of His Letters], The New York Times During the Second World War he worked at Bletchley Park, allegedly invited there after the Ministry of Defence confused the word "cryptogamist" with "cryptogramist". Tandy's son Miles, who has researched his father’s life, remains sceptical about that claim.Amy Freeborn (26 March 2014). [https://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/blogs/behind-the-scenes/2014/03/26/how-a-seaweed-scientist-helped-win-the-war.html How a seaweed scientist helped win the war], NaturePlusDavid J. Collard (22 June 2013). [http://davidjcollard.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/old-possum-and-limbs-of-satan.html "Old Possum and the limbs of Satan"] At Bletchley his technical expertise allowed him to salvage a waterlogged codebook which helped crack the Enigma cypher.Richard Fortey (2008). Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum, p. 168.

Genista McIntosh, Baroness McIntosh is Tandy's daughter by his second wife Maire McDermott. He had five children in total.

Tandy's papers are held at the Natural History Museum.[https://www.nhm.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=PX1130 Tandy; Geoffrey A (1900–1969); Algologist]

Geoffrey Tandy

Life

References

Further reading