Cold War Conversations

During the Cold War, the awesome power of nuclear weapons and its deadly fallout meant that every town, village and home in Britain fell under the nuclear shadow, and the threat of annihilation coloured every aspect of ordinary life. I chat with author and fellow Cold War podcaster Julie McDowall about her new book  Attack Warning Red!: How Britain Prepared for Nuclear War. We discuss how families were encouraged to construct makeshift shelters with cardboard, plastic sheets and sandbags, as well as how vicars and pub landlords learnt how to sound hand-wound sirens, offering four minutes to scramble to safety. and the thousands who volunteered to give nuclear first aid, often consisting of breakfast tea, herbal remedies, and advice on how to die without contaminating others.  It's a fascinating, haunting and darkly humorous look at the UK government’s attempts to prepare the UK population for nuclear war while bunkers were readied for the officials and experts who, in theory, would ensure life continued aft