Britain's last remaining hope at nuclear apocalypse: Tea

[Yog]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7382750.stm


The threat of a nuclear attack on the UK in the 1950s caused concern over the supply of tea, top-secret documents which have now been released reveal.

Government officials planning food supplies said the tea situation would be "very serious" after a nuclear war.

"It would be wrong to consider that even 1oz per head per week could be ensured," they stated.

The papers were released under the Freedom of Information Act by the National Archives at Kew.

Heart and health

The documents said a nuclear conflict would result in the loss of three-quarters of tea stocks.

One paper from April 1955 said: "The advent of thermonuclear weapons... has presented us with a new and much more difficult set of food defence problems."

The aim was to be "completely ready to maintain supplies of food to the people of these islands, sufficient in volume to keep them in good heart and health from the onset of a thermonuclear attack on this country".

"It has become increasingly clear that the severity of the attack which the enemy could launch would produce a catastrophe in the face of which past measures would be fatally deficient," the document added.

Food stockpiles

For planning purposes, the Ministry of Food listed London, Birmingham, Merseyside, Manchester and Clydeside as H-bomb targets.

Tyneside, Teesside, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, Derby, Purfleet in Essex, Southampton, Portsmouth, Bristol, Plymouth, Cardiff, Coventry and Belfast were named as A-bomb targets.

Subjects down for discussion were arrangements for stockpiling food, emergency feeding and equipment, and the availability of bread, milk, meat, oils and fats and tea and sugar.

Methods successfully used in World War II would be "unable to maintain bread supplies under the conditions envisaged", the documents said.

Somewhere in Britain right now, I bet there is a very clean underground warehouse, temperature-regulated and guarded at all times, hardened against nuclear attack... and filled with tea. :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Oh great, I live in an A-bomb area.

I'm not surprised they were panicking about tea. Everyone I know seems to think that a cup of tea is the solution to any problem the world throws at them.

I never understood the appeal, myself :mneh

[Turbogeek]

I never understood the appeal, myself :mneh

You will. The world becomes far more understandable with a good hot cup of tea

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I never understood the appeal, myself :mneh

Here, let me slip a little liquor into that... ;)

[Morgan Evanar]

Tea is the English's comfort drink.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I never understood the appeal, myself :mneh

Here, let me slip a little liquor into that... ;)

Damn. You know me too well.

[Morgan Evanar]

Alchohol is the Jenny's comfort drink.

[Droo]

They may take our lives but they'll never take our tea!

[Peter McCoy]

We shall brew on the beaches, we shall brew on the landing grounds, we shall brew in the fields and in the streets, we shall brew in the hills; we shall never surrender.

[Crusader]

Somebody should have told Göring that the easiest way to take England is to erase it's tea supply lines. Hell this would have been a really diabolic plan to win WW2. Muhahaha

[Morgan Evanar]

They may take our lives but they'll never take our tea!Been there, done that!

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Yeah, we heathens over here showed you guys what-for by tossing all the tea in the harbor!! :shakefist

[stevenvdb]

Tea and a nice butter biscuit are all you need to save the world, really. Evrything else is just so much relish and circumstance.

[Khendon Sevon]

Well, when the wind is blowing over 50 mph, it's -20 degrees F, and you can't breath because you're at 17,500 feet above sea level, 3,500 feet above basecamp, pitch black outside, your body is acting crazy on you, you've lost balance, you're surrounded by steep ice, and your brain feels like it's becoming too big for your skull...

There's nothing like a hot cup of tea.

True story. We waited until dawn, brewing up teas and huddling for warmth behind some tall rocks.

I <3 mountaineering.

I wasn't really a big tea fan... until then :)

http://www.roxxu.com/linkedimages/orizaba/hottea.jpg Base camp.
http://www.roxxu.com/linkedimages/orizaba/altitudetea.jpg Our little setup at 17,500.

[Hartus Kenobi]

Can't go wrong with green or white tea. Can't understand British habits of putting milk in their tea *shudder*

[Locksmith]

A related video.

http://www.vimeo.com/794351

Warning, make sure to turn off the HD portion, and let it load. Sadly a rather crummy server, but a great video.

[Turbogeek]

Can't go wrong with green or white tea. Can't understand British habits of putting milk in their tea *shudder*

Oh I can. 6am morning, feeling beaten to death after a big workout the night before, just when you have that first sip...... ooooh yeeeeeesssss.

[Ryan Pode]

Coffee is better, sorry Brits. Unless it's sweet ice tea on a hot day... then maybe.

[Travis North]

Well, when the wind is blowing over 50 mph, it's -20 degrees F, and you can't breath because you're at 17,500 feet above sea level, 3,500 feet above basecamp, pitch black outside, your body is acting crazy on you, you've lost balance, you're surrounded by steep ice, and your brain feels like it's becoming too big for your skull...

There's nothing like a hot cup of tea.

Thats got advert potential Khendon.


I'm not that big a tea drinker should iced tea not count. (That stuff I down in seconds.) If I do drink tea it's usually of a spiced variety. This month the cupboards hold a box of liqourice flavoured tea.

[Wyl Staedtler]

My dad's first response to any crisis has always been to make tea, from the time he was just a wee thing. It's a strange but endearing little quirk. :)

[Cat X]

Coffee is better, sorry Brits. Unless it's sweet ice tea on a hot day... then maybe.

Americans don't know how to make a decent tea so don't be saying that too loudly.

They cant make decent coffee either but that's besides the point. Wait no it's not. Americans cant make a brew of either kind to save your lives. Trying to find something other than the toilet water that's passed for tea or coffee is a story all on it's own - and not to forget that Americans think English Breakfast or Earl Grey is acceptable tea. No, it is not! This is like saying International Roast is coffee, when it's clearly not.

There's a lot of things I liked about North America. The tea or coffee available was definantly NOT in that category. And coffee should never be availible in continers exceeding half a litre. That's just wrong. I swear by the time I left the USA I was ready to kill for a decent brew - having tea withdrawal really sucked.

[Kelly Perris]

I'm picky. There's really only about three different kinds of tea I usually drink:

- Japanese green tea
- Numi Morrocan Mint tea
- Numi Chamomile tea

I can't stand Earl Grey or anything like that (whereas one of my sisters can consume amounts of Earl Grey I simply cannot begin to understand...). I've yet to be convinced otherwise. Same with so-called fruit teas. And I never, never, never, put ANYTHING in my tea.

On the rare occasion that I drink straight out coffee, I take that black as well. And we never buy pre-ground. Always beans, no more than a pound at a time...and we store them in the freezer and grind as needed. And good espresso beans are kept on hand for obvious or not so obvious reasons as well.

Otherwise, I'm a faithful consumer of ice cold water. I carry an 18 - 20 oz water bottle everywhere I go.