Sidney Sussex College has for the first time published a full account of its history, revealing secrets about both the College itself and some of its more illustrious alumni.

Sidney Sussex: A History, by Richard Humphreys, charts the development of the College and the exploits of its students from its foundation in 1596 to the present day. Unearthed within its pages are links to the Gunpowder Plot, the code-breaking operations at Bletchley Park, and an 18th-century pornographic poet.

This is in addition to Sidney’s traditional reputation as the Puritan stronghold that served to educate a young Oliver Cromwell.

Humphreys, a former English student of the College, says that Sidney has “punched way above its weight” throughout its 400-year history. The community has always played a key role in the political and scientific events that have shaped Britain’s history.

In 1605, for instance, the Sidney founder, Lord Harington of Exton, helped Princess Elizabeth - the nine-year old daughter of James I - to safety before she could be kidnapped by the Gunpowder plotters. After the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, the Sidney benefactor, Edward Montagu of Boughton, put forward the bill that created the public celebration of Bonfire Night.

Students from Sidney Sussex also had a large part in the intelligence operations that took place at Bletchley Park in the Second World War, helping to deconstruct the German ‘Enigma’ code. They were drafted in by a Mathematics Fellow of the College, Gordon Welchman, who organised the famous Hut 6 and sought to employ bright undergraduates to aid the war effort.

And it was Sidney student John Herivel, recruited by his former supervisor, who first predicted that the Germans would introduce clustered messages that could be deciphered. From his work, Allied command was able to access Nazi communications.

Welchman later noted the significance of this development: “If Herivel had not been recruited in January 1940,” he wrote, “who would have thought of the Herivel tip, without which we would have been defeated in May 1940?”

Sidney has produced many other famous alumni; not least a succession of Nobel Prize winners, politicians such as David Owen, heads of MI5 and MI6, and television personalities such as Carol Vorderman.

Humphreys' book, released on 7 December and published by the College, is 400 pages and costs £45.