Protect and Survive: Britain in a Nuclear Age Quiz

Answer: Montebello Islands

The Hurricane was a plutonium implosion bomb, similar to the American Fat Man that was detonated over Nagasaki (which Penney had witnessed). It used plutonium produced at the Sellafield plant in Cumbria (then named Windscale). For obvious reasons, the bomb had to be tested in a remote location, so the British government chose Trimouille Island, in the Montebello Islands off the north-west coast of Australia. The bomb was detonated inside the hold of HMS Plym, vaporising most of the ship and leaving a crater in the sea bed.

Two further tests, Operation Mosaic G1 and G2, were conducted in the same location in 1956. An observer of the Mosaic G1 test said that the light generated by the explosion was so bright, he felt as though it was passing through his body.

Answer: HANDEL

The HANDEL network was installed in Britain in the 1960s, and was to act as a back-up communications system, similar to the system used for air raid warnings in World War II. If the early warning system at Fylingdales in Yorkshire, NORAD in the US or RAF Sector Controls detected an attack, a warning would be sent to the Primary War Headquarters (PWHQ). In turn, two lights would come on on the HANDEL console, and the operator - a UKWMO officer - would press a red button and say 'attack warning RED'. This message would be relayed to the BBC, and the 250 control points at police stations around the country. HANDEL handsets were stationed at each control point to receive the message; these handsets used telephone lines which would normally broadcast the Speaking Clock. The control points would activate sirens in built-up areas, while in rural areas, 'responsible people', i.e. local officials, would alert the public with whistles, maroons or gongs.

The 'attack warning RED' message would be accompanied by the rising and falling of an air raid siren. If nuclear fallout was expected, there would be a high-pitched beep followed by 'fallout warning: BLACK' (or if fallout was expected within the hour). 'Attack message WHITE' would signal an all-clear if there was no attack, or if there had been an attack and radiation levels were considered to be at a 'safe' level. In the latter case, radios would then presumably broadcast further information and morale-boosting messages to survivors.

HANDEL was decommissioned in 1992.

Answer: The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)

A bit of background: J.B. Priestley's article was entitled 'Britain and the Nuclear Bombs', in which he criticised Aneurin Bevan's decision to abandon the policy of nuclear disarmament. The article subsequently received several letters of support in the magazine. CND was founded during a meeting chaired by Kingsley Martin, the magazine's then editor, and Canon John Collins. Other notable members included sociologist Ralph Miliband (father of Labour MPs David and Ed Miliband), publisher Victor Gollancz, and philosopher Bertrand Russell. In 1958, it had its first meeting, attended by around 5,000 people.

CND - as the name suggests - supports unilateral nuclear disarmament in Britain, regulation of the nuclear weapons trade, and international nuclear disarmament. It also opposes NATO, nuclear power, the plutonium trade, and nuclear testing. In the 1950s and 1960s, it played a key role in the Aldermaston Marches, annual protest marches at Easter from Trafalgar Square to the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston, Berkshire. Subsequent Aldermaston Marches also occurred in 1972 and 2004.

Although there was a lull in CND support in the 1970s, it experienced a revival in the 1980s due to Cold War tensions, working with groups such as the women's peace camp at Greenham Common. One of its biggest protests in the 1980s was the march of 22nd October 1983 in London, protesting against the arrival of US Cruise and Pershing 2 missiles at bases in Europe, with a crowd of approximately 200,000 people.

Answer: Square Leg

Square Leg - named, very Britishly, after a cricket position - was based on the idea of what might happen if the Soviet Union were to attack Britain. The government estimated that 29 million people - in other words, just over half the population - would be killed outright, 6-7 million would suffer serious injuries (e.g. burns caused by mass fires), and 19 million would survive in the short-term. A year later, CND published a map showing areas shaded in pink that, according to Square Leg, would have been affected by fallout from the attack. Prime targets were also marked on it, including nuclear bases and secret government bunkers (although the location of some of these bunkers would not be revealed until after the end of the Cold War).

Certain aspects of the exercise were criticised as being unrealistic; for instance, important locations in London such as Whitehall were left out, when realistically they would have been among the main targets, and the hypothetical attack involved weapons with a high yield, rather than a mixture. In an article about Square Leg in 'The New Statesman' in 1980, Duncan Campbell and Rob Edwards also noted the rather dilapidated condition of several nuclear bunkers around the country, and the lack of training given to civil servants for a potential nuclear war, suggesting that the government were somewhat underprepared.

The other three options were similar exercises. Inside Right was the first and took place in October 1975, with Scrum Half three years later and Hard Rock in 1982.

Answer: The War Game

Written, directed and produced by Peter Watkins as part of the BBC's 'Wednesday Play' series, 'The War Game' was a controversial film at the time. At around 48 minutes long, and told in the style of a documentary, it tells the story of a Soviet nuclear attack on Britain, and the subsequent mass destruction and collapse of society; scenes included rioters being shot and people burning to death. It was filmed in Kent - one of the targets is RAF Manston - with a cast of unknowns. Watkins was inspired to make the film after the Wilson government continued developing nuclear weapons, despite a claim in Labour's election manifesto that it would unilaterally disarm the country. He drew heavily on information from reports of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The film was not well received in the mainstream British press, being criticised as CND propaganda and called 'shocking', 'sickening' and 'monstrous', though the left-wing press were more favourable in their comments. Although the BBC did show 'The War Games' to officials including members of the Home Office and Ministry of Defence, it ultimately decided not to broadcast the film, and 'The War Game' would not be shown on British television until 1985. However, it was later shown in cinemas, and even won awards, including an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 1966.

As for the other choices: 'Threads' was made in 1984, written by Barry Hines and filmed in Sheffield (since RAF Finningley was nearby), again with a cast of unknowns. 'When The Wind Blows' is based on a graphic novel by Raymond Briggs about an aging couple struggling to survive the effects of a nuclear attack, and eventually dying of radiation sickness. 'The Day After' is about a nuclear attack on the US.

Answer: 1980

The 'Protect and Survive' pamphlets bore more than a few similarities to wartime leaflets about civil defence in the event of an air raid, such as instructions on building a home-made shelter. They were put together in 1976 and released in 1980. Advice included everything from how to build a designated 'fall-out room' and what necessary items to stockpile, to fire safety, sanitation, and - more chillingly - dealing with corpses.

The pamphlets were adapted into a series of films narrated by Patrick Allen, a Shakespearean actor, and produced by Richard Taylor Cartoons, who were also behind the 'Charley Says' films about child safety. (Richard Taylor himself, incidentally, opposed nuclear weapons.) Totalling around 50 minutes, the films were considered classified information only to be broadcasted if a nuclear attack was likely to occur within the next 72 hours. The videos can be seen on a loop at the Imperial War Museums in London and Manchester, and at the former secret nuclear bunkers - now operating as Cold War museums - at Kelvedon Hatch and Hack Green in Cheshire.

The 'Protect and Survive' campaign also became a staple of popular culture in the '80s. For instance, Frankie Goes To Hollywood sampled the films for 'Two Tribes', while an episode of 'The Young Ones' entitled 'Bomb' featured one character painting the windows white (this was an actual piece of advice - it was thought to reflect light from the blast). Anti-nuclear activists such as the writer E.P. Thompson used the slogan 'Protest and Survive' to lampoon the campaign, and criticised the advice as being unrealistic.

Answer: RAF Greenham Common

The Greenham Common protests began when 36 members of Women for Life on Earth, a Welsh anti-nuclear group, marched from South Wales to RAF Greenham Common, as a demonstration against 96 US cruise missiles being stationed there. The march took place over ten days. When the women's request for a debate about the missiles was refused, they set up camp at the site. Over the years, hundreds of women joined the camp, with many more dropping in to help at weekends. Methods of protest were generally non-violent and included sabotaging the wire fences; climbing over fences and dancing on silos; a small group of women dressing as teddy bears (as a symbol of the threat to children); and enormous 'human chains' of women holding hands around the base. Evictions, arrests and harassment from vigilantes were frequent.

In the early 1990s, the missiles were returned to the US under the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987. The peace camp finally closed in September 2000. A Commemorative and Historic Site, which includes a sculpture representing the campfire, a garden and a group of standing stones, was initially left there as a reminder of the protests. However, it was demolished in 2013 because of frequent vandalism.

Answer: True

Believe it or not, this actually happened! To summarise:

Able Archer 83 was part of an annual series of exercises carried out by NATO in Europe, simulating a DEFCON 1 alert (more about this below). Tensions between the US and Soviet Union were steadily growing in the early 1980s, due to the escalating arms race, the placement of fast-moving Pershing missiles in West Germany, fears among Soviet officials under the Brezhnev administration that the US was planning a nuclear first strike, Ronald Reagan's launching of the Strategic Defence Initiative, and several other factors. When NATO simulated a nuclear attack against this backdrop, KGB agents - not understanding the codes used - misinterpreted it as a genuine threat from the West, leading the Soviet Union to place its forces in Poland and East Germany on high alert. Although the situation was defused when Reagan received intelligence - thanks to spies in the UK - it was a close call, and historians such as John Lews Gaddis believe that Able Archer 83 was the closest the world came to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

DEFCON, incidentally, is the system used by the US armed forces in order to decide the level of threat against the US. It stands for Defence Readiness Condition. The DEFCON level was Level 2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Level 3 during the 9/11 attacks.

Answer: Trident

In January 2014 the Trident missile system in Britain consisted of four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines based at Faslane in Scotland, each armed with sixteen UGM-133 Trident II ballistic missiles, which in turn can carry up to five Trident warheads. CND estimate the destructive power of each warhead to be eight times that of the Little Boy bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.

The Trident programme was renewed in 2007 under Tony Blair's Labour government, with 409 votes in favour and 161 against, despite a rebellion by 88 Labour MPs. The BBC stated that between £15 billion and £17 billion would be spent on a new fleet of submarines to house the missiles (although Greenpeace has claimed that the estimated total could be at least £34 billion, including extra costs such as VAT). The replacement system would take an estimated 17 years to develop, and would be expected to last until 2050 (the expiry date of the current Trident system is estimated to be around 2024-2028).

Answer: The commanding officers of nuclear submarines

The commanding officers of the four Vanguard class nuclear submarines - HMS Vanguard, HMS Vigilant, HMS Victorious and HMS Vengeance - are the recipients of these letters. The Prime Minister is briefed before writing them (Tony Blair, for instance, was briefed by Lord Guthrie, then head of Chief of the Defence Staff), and when he or she leaves office, the letters are destroyed, unopened. They are only to be opened if both the Prime Minister and the next person in line in the chain of command have been killed. According to historian Peter Hennessy, one way for the commander of the submarine to check if there has been a nuclear attack is to check if Radio 4 is still broadcasting. (The full series of checks needed to be carried out is, of course, top secret.)

No-one but the Prime Minister knows what is written in them, though there has been much speculation - in June 2013, Radio 4 even hosted a talk programme asking the guests what they would put in the letters if they had to write them. One possibility mentioned is that the commander is asked to use their own judgement when making the decision whether to retaliate. Either way, it makes for chilling reading.