Yes indeed, once the attack warning is sounded, one should draw the curtains and then try to close one's mind to the reality of what is actually happening. Get yourself a litre or two of strong alcohol and get hold of a good long book like War and Peace or the entire works of Marcel Proust and see what kills you first, utter boredom or a brick going through your head as a result of the initial blast. All joking aside, these Public Information films are very interesting and entertaining, many thanks for making them available. 😊 7:18
A fallout room is a specially outfitted area of your house (usually the basement, if you have one) for one to take shelter in the event of a nuclear strike. It should be far away from windows, doors and other obvious places where blast debris and radioactive fallout can enter the home. The fallout room should be stocked with about 3-4 weeks worth of (packaged, not fresh) food, bottled/ jugged water, medical supplies, bedding, toiletries etc. Sheltering usually lasts about 2-3 weeks.
I am just about old enough to remember Protect and Survive (1976). It frightened the hell out of me. My father, weirdly, was a nuclear engineer at the time. He was like "we will basically all die so there's no point in having a fall out room". I was like "can't we go under the table or something" and he said "No, Amy, that was World War 2". And I said "But what about my baby sister? And the cat?" And he was very rude about my little sister but he did say "The cat will be fine. Cats always are." He was a strange man.
I used to love these, but the nuclear fallout ones terrified me!! Glad I watched them, though, as it says at 4:11, I would never have thought of drawing the curtains. That's what you need to do in the even of a nuclear attack: draw the curtains. But, shit! We haven't got a fall-out room! (Although I actually know someone who has!) 6:00 "If you hear the fall out warning....you're fucked."
Love these PIFS! Do you remember the one staring Sheila Steafel about locking your house up properly? she comes home to a literally empty house? Think it's black and white not too sure. Then there's the good old Reginald Mole Husband trying to park his car! Any chance?
Also: Thanks for the Rabies clip at the start. There's useful info in that which I've never been told in over twenty years of continental travel to date! :-o :-)
These 'Protect and Survive' films were actually made in the early 80s and kept classified and were only meant to be broadcast in the UK if there was a red-alert state of nuclear attack. However the films did get leaked to groups like the CND and they used them to warn of the nature of nuclear war. IMHO the films wouldn't do much good during nuclear war.
They were actually made in 1975, but you're broadly correct about the rest. They would have started to have been broadcast when the government determined that the international situation was such that a nuclear attack was likely within 72 hours.
Amazing...by the mid 1970's, air raid warnings and instructions on what to do in case of nuclear attack were pretty much non-existent in America. All we had was the regular test of the Emergency Broadcast System. And the fallout room (fallout shelter) was just that--a place to wait out the attack and the aftermath. It was stocked with all the necessities--food, water, bedding, sanitary facilities--a family needed to survive until it was safe to go back outside.
Those "Protect and Survive" PIFs are complete bollocks, just like the "Duck and Cover" cartoon in North America. If you're caught outside in the blast or fallout, you're dead, or soon will be. Going indoors, closing doors, windows, and curtains (or crouching under your school desk with your head tucked under your hands) are completely useless. My mom was a teacher in the 1960s, and, even as she led her students in "duck & cover" drills, she knew it was completely useless, and so did all the other teachers.
I've noticed British PIFs tend to mention the danger of rabies ALL THE TIME. Well I can't say I blame you. I live in an endemic area in Canada and it's unsafe to go near many unknown animals because of it. All it takes is one raccoon staggering around during daylight to cause a neighbourhood panic. That being said, the chances of actually getting the disease are next to nothing.
Rabies was enemy number 1 back in the day here in the uk, I remember a warning add showing a screaming child being given injections to the stomach to cure the rabies and it scared the hell out of me as a kid 😂 Hope the last ten years have been good to you 😎
As stated, they were never broadcast in full. Occasionally, excerpts of them were used in other programmes, but they were officially classified as secret, and were only to be used if the government determined that nuclear attack was likely within 72 hours.
They featured in the BBC TV film 'Threads' a very scary and accurate depiction of a nuclear attack on the UK and how it affected two families in Sheffield.
After United States Jaws, you would think that British fishermen would tolerate friendly mate ridicule for wearing a dinghy torso, than be munched up by a toothy torpedo fin, virtually obsolete in the north Atlantic drift?. Stark raving nuts.......but gets the hairs on the legs to stand guard at any given moment I find myself in danger of a peckish seagull!.
+RichoRosai Wish someone had told the British public that back in June 2016! ;-) And in answer to the OQ: Another film shows how to make toilet arrangements for the Fallout Room. One would leave the inner refuge to use them, of course. :-)
Im so glad I know what to do when a nuke gose of now, just lay in a ditch and put my coat over my head. lol did people realy think that would keep them safe. its ok I got a small boat to ascape on I might get 10 people in it and a seagull.
All these Protect and Survive adverts, oh my word, they started to show them again in the 80s. Then came Threads on TV. Just goes to show that all you can do in the event of an attack is quickly learn Yoga, stick your head between your legs and kiss your sweet ass goodbye.
+Chris Lightfoot I think there will be people who survive a Nuclear war and Society will degenerate to the level it was in Mad Max The Road Warrior or Beyond Thunderdome.
It sounds like they want you to treat the corpse of a family member like an object. "Move them to another room, label them burry them in a trench." That sounds a lot easier said than done. I know this probably sounds stupid but what is a fallout room? Just the central room of thne house or do the walls have something special fitted ie, only the most paranoid have a fallout room?
HOWEVER IF YOU,VE HAD A DEAD BODY IN THE HOUSE FOR MORE THAN 5 DAYS IT WILL STINK! AND ATRACTT FLIES YOU CANT GO OUT AND DISPOSE OF THE BODDIE WHAT ABOUT THE FALLOUT YOU,LL BE DEAD THEN
