My research connected with this project has highlighted an aspect of public information unfamiliar to those of my generation. I have become fascinated with this aspect of social history; though see little use for the information contained within these pamphlets. After close scrutiny, I have only been able to conclude that this official literature, distributed in the early 1980s, was the product of a government confront with the possibility of mass panic in the midst of the Cold War. The advice offered seems impractical, only to appease the general populace. The book presents an overly optimistic attitude towards the possibility of survival and gives little or no mention of its futility.
Though there is little evidence to suggest that the information contained within Protect and Survive was ever intended for public consumption, the phrases included within the publication have been immortalised through popular-culture, appearing in the lyrics of songs and featured in television programmes such as the 80s BBC cult classic, The Young Ones (Bomb).
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