I just found this on the BBC News website.
The headline runs:
"Nuclear Threat Sparked Tea Worry"
"The threat of a nuclear attack on the UK in the 1950s caused concern over the supply of tea, top-secret documents which have now been released reveal.
Government officials planning food supplies said the tea situation would be "very serious" after a nuclear war.
"It would be wrong to consider that even 1oz per head per week could be ensured," they stated.
The papers were released under the Freedom of Information Act by the National Archives at Kew.
The documents said a nuclear conflict would result in the loss of three-quarters of tea stocks."
I am so proud to be an Englishman.
Newbies might be tickled by my own experience of nuclear war.
Especially as it contains a photo of me in shorts.
13 comments:
i'm still laughing, sugar! ;-) well done, sir! xoxo
Tea? Well, now. Bing and I were just talking about how everyone seems to bring us fancy teas (and rocks for me) back when they go out of town and we got over twenty boxes of tea as gifts for Christmas.
I think we can live on it until we are in our nineties.
But...I dunno. I don't really LIKE pomegranate tea.
We English and our tea fixation. Hee hee, Savannah.
Pomegranate tea? Ick.
Having said that, I don't drink the brown stuff the English are supposed to drink; I only like the stupidly expensive green tea from Shizuoka, near Mount Fuji.
I'm not sure that reaching for the kettle would be my first impulse in the event of nuclear attack though.
Well I'm not quite a newbie but I looked at your previous post and I swear you look just like my stepson Christopher did when he was four years old. Snowy white blond hair and all. Irresistibly cute and I bet you gave butterfly kisses too didn't you?
I think the photo is spectacular. Kind of makes me miss the cold war too. I just loved all those "spies coming out of the cold" books. Consequently, when I had the opportunity to go to Moscow as part of an official government delegation, I jumped at it. I was scared stiff after the security briefing though and that was ten years ago, fifty years after the fifties. The visit to the Kremlin absolutely blew me away, I've never seen so much gold in one place but then again, I haven't been inside Buck. palace yet. :)
PS I rather prefer coffee than tea, except on a really hot day when tea is the only thing that refreshes one.
It's great to keep those priorities in line! teeheeEEK
That is a CUTIE picture! I love all three pairs of shoes-very stylish indeed. In this photo it seems like you were the well behaved but possibly argumentative child and brother a little more the free spirited physical one. Am I close?
Hee hee, Mme: yes, I was darned cute back then. Now look at me … Ha!
I'm so jealous that you've ben to Moscow. I always wanted to go back in the Soviet era; not so much now, though.
I must confess, I've not been inside the Parasite House, either.
And like you I am a coffee fanatic, but green tea hits the spot on a hot day or after a meal.
Shan: Not even close, I'm glad to say. Phil was the argumentative little troublemaker and I was the perfect child … Hee hee hee hee hee, or to quote your good self: Bahahaha!!!!
Dive, you would still enjoy Moscow. There are lots of fierce looking fellows in black leather who watch your every move and some who follow you and the entire population looks quite miserable most of the time. The buildings for the most part (high rise housing blocks) are grey concrete (the Kremlin is vastly different but this is not for the average joe). There is a distinct lack of colour everywhere. I had the impression of a second-world country; the food was ordinary and choices quite limited. I suspect that things have changed drastically since I was there though.
However, we went to the ballet at the Bolshoi theatre - saw "Sleeping Beauty". Quite spectacular and the dancing absolutely precise and the costumes were brilliant. Unlike ballet performances elsewhere, in Russia, the performance is interrupted frequently by deafening applause and standing ovations for each little pas de deux, extending the performance to several hours.
I'm sure I've mentioned this elsewhere in blogosphere but at interval we were taken into the ante-room of the Czar's box where we were seated, to drink champagne and eat chocolates. The walls of both the box and the reception room were bright red! Quite overwhelming really. The other stories will have to wait until we're face to face - I daren't comment about those here!
Howdy Dive, you perfect son, you.
Sometimes I find myself excitedly following the links through your posts and ending up in Malta and all manner of fascinating places.
I wouldn't say at all that you have missed your calling. Rather, you are incredibly multi-talented.
It would be facile to think that hear endeth the lesson as the tip of the iceberg is simply a path that you take us on.
I'm sure there are million more paths to lead us along; but never with cold feet.
Ripper post, old son.
At 1:35 AM, I reckon it's time for an Earl Grey, English breakfast tea.
But how sensible to think of the staples. I wonder what item Americans would be concerned about running out of. Probably beer, or cheese. Definitely cheese.
Mme: And Monsieur: I can't wait to hear your Moscow stories when we meet this summer.
And of course, your Aussie ones!
Robyn: That's probably the reason your government pulled back from the brink so often: America could never survive without Cheese-Whiz.
LOL oh me too. We English get our priorities. Well, i didn't say right did i.
Nice to see that serious concerns were widely discussed in relation to this issue.
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