From Nuclear Test Veteran to Lancaster's 'Favourite Tramp': The 'Life Less Ordinary' of Bernard Downhill
From Nuclear Test Veteran to Lancaster's 'Favourite Tramp': The 'Life Less Ordinary' of Bernard Downhill (Just a quick heads up, this article deals with themes including self-harm and suicide. Proceed with caution if these are sensitive issues for you. Thanks, Rebecca.) 'Your own local authority will best be able to help you in war. If you move away — unless you have a place of your own to go to or intend to live with relatives — the authority in your new area will not help you with food or other essentials. So stay at home.' The message in the infamous nuclear war pamphlet Protect and Survive was clear: if you fled your home after the Bomb had dropped, you were on your own. Stray outside the perceived safety of your blast-damaged / roofless / windowless/ burning house, and your local government, safely ensconced in a cosy bunker somewhere, would do nothing for you. In order to survive in the post-nuclear attack world, you would have to rely upon your own te...