This is the story of an imprisoned ‘would be’ monarch and a beleaguered emperor who put too much trust in the art of cryptography. Both were victims of a false sense of security. The whole point of cryptography is to prevent information from falling into enemy hands. But for the ‘would be’ monarch; Mary Queen of Scots and the beleaguered emperor; Napoleon Bonaparte, all it did was to buy them a little time, before their secrets were disclosed.

Produced and presented by Bernie Dwan