THE COLD WAR...
If i say the year 1984 what do you remember...?
i am 46 now so i was only 12 and heading to start high school after a hot summer of riding BMX,
other things i remember are Scalectrix,Rubik Cubes, Spectrum ZX computers, and The Young Ones! lol...
While music in the charts was, Frankie goes to Hollywood,Duran Duran,Wham, and Band Aid was xmas no1.... though i was listening to Hawkwind, Dead Kennedys, Tangerine Dream, The Cure, Kraftwerk, The Stranglers and the Damned along with other stuff...
Do you remember CND?, i do and i remember having a badge with the symbol just as rick wore on his jacket in the Young Ones- that really is a classic brilliant series...!
Watching on TV and reading Cold War films and books of secret agents, double agents and mass paranoia...
But do you remember a BBC play drama documentary called "THREADS"..?
you may remember as i do the 1983 US film "the day after" of a nuclear strike on the US...well "THREADS" came out a year later and even by todays standards is still pretty realistic, grim and factual,
THREADS is a 1984 BBC television play depicting the effects of a nuclear war on UK soil and the 13 year aftermath..the play was Written by Barry Hines and was directed by Mick Jackson,based loosely on a young Sheffield couple (Ruth and Jimmy) and there families, the Sheffield ROTORY control bunker, and the post attack breakdown of emergency services, society, and ultimately the slow death of millions and battle of survival as disease, famine, and anarchy take over...if this all sounds grim its because it is and the apocalypse would be...here's a taster trailer someone made of the docu-drama...
The reality of a Nuclear attack and life after those exposed to the fallout and the Nuclear winter that would set in would get a bit grim, even Ray Mears would struggle to cook up some good grub in this...
Here is a Documentary from 1980. the chances of survival, and where those who would rebuild communities would shelter underground in purpose built huge Bunkers...
So whats the attraction to this?,well if like me you`ve ever been down inside a Royal Observer Corps (ROC) bunker-referred to as Posts- i have visited over 35 now...
Film i made 8 years ago inside a local ROC Post,
Song is `Only The Dead Dreams Of The Cold War Kid` by Hawkwind...
The ROC posts were linked up to centres that fed information to main control Bunkers as shown in the above Documentary, massive underground multi level ROTOR bunkers where sealed underground and equipped with enough to survive 3 months,
You really do get a sense to how serious the threat of nuclear war was... how close it came to nearly happening and how different things could of turned out..
Despite being open as a public Museum for 20 years and my interest in The Cold War i have never got around to visiting Scotland's Secret Bunker situated just outside Anstruther in the East Neuk of Fife, a wet Saturday was an ideal time for a visit and what a place!
An innocent looking house was indeed the Guard House, stairs below lead to a 150 yard tunnel that leads 100 feet underground to a 2 level R3 TYPE 80 ROTOR Bunker that floor space covers 2 football pitches,
Everything roomed that would be needed to survive up to 3 months for up to 200 people...
Down we go...
A replicated ROC Post...
Nuke proof doors...
BBC Broadcasting room...
LOL `Soothing music`...
Main Operations room...
Weapons in use on both sides during the Cold War included Eastern European manufactured WW2 era German weapons such as MG42`s by the Soviets, and Bren Guns here in the UK...
Operations room...
Phonelines...
Heading back out to the outside world...
An ace explore!...
www.secretbunker.co.uk
More soon...
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