History

This would be funny if it weren’t so terrifying

From an advert for the book Atomic Bombing: How to Protect Yourself, published in 1950:

Here’s a Mere Glimpse of the Hundreds of Vital Questions this Volume Answers…

If you are within 1,000 yards of the blast, what should you do immediately to minimize your danger?

What types of clothing help protect your body…?

Where are the safest places to hide…?

… This may be the chance of your lifetime to SAVE your life.

Advice inside the book includes, “Curl up in a ball as you hit the ground”.

(For other bizarre books I’ve come across see my earlier posts.)

9 responses to “This would be funny if it weren’t so terrifying”

  1. If you think you are likely to be near a nuclear explosion of any nature, the first thing to do is to run away as most effects of such a blast reduce under an inverse square law.

    If you don’t have time to run away, you should turn away from the point of the explosion, covering your eyes with the crook of your elbow (a bit like the “swine flu sneeze” posture mentioned the other year) and lie prone. This will help to minimise the effects of the blast on your body and also reduce the total radiation dose you receive.

    If you can find any obstacle to put between you and the explosion then do so but bear in mind that any walls, roofs etc are liable to collapse.

    If you survive the blast you should immediately try to move upwind of the impact/detonation point to reduce your radiation dose from ‘fallout’. It’s also important to seek treatment for radiation poisoning with megadoses of Vitamin C and minerals, and chelation therapy. Do not wait for symptoms of radiation poisoning to appear.

    Nuclear warfare – it’s not rocket science. 🙂

  2. I suppose you were too young for the ‘Protect & Survive’ booklet. All that useful advice about covering the windows with brown paper and building a shelter under the stairs with a door wrenched off its hinges. If you go to the Secret Nuclear Bunker at Kelvedon, they have some of the Protect & Survive public information films running on television sets. Of course, the left-wingers wrote and distributed ‘Protest & Survive’ as their counter-blast.

  3. “If you are within 1,000 yards of the blast, what should you do immediately to minimize your danger?”

    Well, that shows the books age! In anything other than pretty hard cover, you’re likely to be rather busy being dead or in the process of dying with even a fairly modest modern nuclear weapon. On the plus side, chances are that the initial blast rendered you incapable of conscious thought instantly.

  4. And ‘The War Game’ by Peter Watkins is the worst of all. I spent five years on medication after watching that in the sixth form.

  5. The (new) Battlestar Galactica deals with the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.

    From the prologue: “The Cylons were created by man. They were created to make life easier on the Twelve Colonies. And then the day came when The Cylons decided to kill their masters.”

    According to The Guardian “Battlestar Galactica is the only award-winning drama that dares tackle the war on terror” See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_%282004_TV_series%29#References_to_modern_society

  6. I was in the TA’s during the cold war, Part of my NBC training was…if you see a mushroom rising and are unable to get to cover quickly…lay flat on the ground ..laying face down with your head towards the blast….hold onto your helmet…

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