Truly terrifying...

[blue_condition]

...is the verdict on Bob Clarke's Four Minute Warning. Clarke is ex-RAF turned engineer turned archaeologist, and in this book he turns his attention to a description of both the UK's nuclear arsenal and the supporting military infrastructure throughout the Cold War, and then to the civil defence and other mechanisms that would attempt to put

Comments

[wyrdrune]

Thanks for this - that's one for the wish list.

[rich_r]

I've got all the "Protect and Survive" videos on my laptop. Apart from the dated funky music and sound effects, it's quite scary to think that if they were to broadcast them now, would people listen?

There were quiet a few ROC operators on 28DaysLater (before OT restricted posting to a select few), and their accounts of what the job entailed were always fascinating. I've been in a couple of ROC posts, and the idea of sitting in that cramped box after a strike, popping up to change the film outside every now and then is a little worrying.

But yes, a proper attack with 1950s weapons wouldn't have left a lot.

[ramtops]

Sadly, none of this comes as much of a surprise to me. Thanks for the pointer, though - i've added it to my every increasing wish list - I'm fascinated by stuff like this, in a macabre sort of way.

[blue_condition]

There was little completely new in the book (apart from the early 60s Greenham Common incident) but it's the best one-volume summary of just how bad things would've been that I've seen.

[whizzerandchips]

Hold on. So you're suggesting that mattresses won't deflect a nuclear bomb?

[rich_r]

You'd need orthopaedic ones for that, which weren't generally available until the 1980s :)

I think the idea was more to survive the effects of a bomb falling 100 miles away, rather than a direct hit.

[whizzerandchips]

Yes. For direct hits then closing the windows and curtains was the only protection.

[blue_condition]

And painting over the windows with diluted emulsion paint, remember.

[vin_petrol]

Once you're into the realms of multi-megaton H-bomb airbursts

Reminds me of watching Threads in the 80s, when they suggested that something like 250 Megatons would be dropped on the UK. There wasn't going to be much left after that!

[duoinchains]

Aye... Threads scared the jejazus out of me when I first saw it in the 80 and did so again recently when I got hold of a copy.

Plus, before seeing it in the 80s I'd found 'The Nuclear Survival Handbook' in my local library which was an interesting read, but definitely based around the 'few Hiroshima-sized weapons' scenario. What I saw in Threads made a mockery of much of the book.