[ajlburke]

'Now, we shall receive four minutes warning of any impending nuclear attack. Some people have said, "Oh my goodness me — four minutes? — that is not a very long time!" Well, I would remind those doubters that some people in this great country of ours can run a mile in four minutes.' - Peter Cook, Beyond the Fringe, 1960

[arethuza]

Part of the UK preparation for nuclear war sound like black comedy - my favourite being that we were too cheap to build a dedicated communication network to allow the PM to launch the V-bombers when out and about so the AA radio network was to be used:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/in-the-eve...

Yes - that AA - the Automobile Association....

[wolfgang42]

The national air raid sirens were controlled over random POTS lines[1]. The theory was that a dedicated system would need proper upkeep and testing, but when a telephone line goes down the customer at the end of it will notice and file a complaint.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HANDEL

[pmoriarty]

That's almost as bad as US launch codes being all zeroes for 15 years:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/nuclear-missile-cod...

[sjg007]

Good thing it changed.. imagine trying to pair a bluetooth keyboard.