All that postwar anxiety about being vaporised by a nuclear bomb was a complete waste of emotion

When I was growing up in the 1970s, my three main fears were: being blown up by the IRA; being eaten by a Jaws-like great white shark; being vaporised by a nuclear bomb.

I expect it was the same for most kids of my generation. The first two, obviously, were a function of the Birmingham bombings (et al.)

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TaggedBBC4, Chernobyl, Climate change, CND, documentary, Greenham Common, Hiroshima, Mark Cousins, Mogwai, nuclear bomb, Russell Brand, TV, When the Wind Blows

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All that postwar anxiety about being vaporised by a nuclear bomb was a complete waste of emotion

The balance of terror worked its magic beautifully, as BBC4’s new Mark Cousins documentary, Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise, unintentionally demonstrates

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