Mary Adams (née Ritchie) (3 November 1922 – 12 July 2010) was a Scottish interceptor for Bletchley Park during World War II. Adams was born in Montrose, Scotland to Maggie and John Ritchie. Her father was a railway foreman. Her parents moved to Stonehaven where she attended Mackie Academy before going on to take a job as a clerk in solicitors' office. In 1943 she signed up for the Auxiliary Territorial Service and was selected for the Royal Corps of Signals, where she was trained in receiving Morse code. She was then assigned to Bletchley Park as an interceptor of German and Italian coded signals. Adams stated that she preferred to intercept Italian signals as Italians were often excitable when transmitting which lead them to make mistakes causing them to repeat their messages, and thereby