You'd think today's kids would have some measure of respect for their own mortality - so why do they apparently remain so fearless? Well, unlike the 1970s and 1980s generation, they aren't continually being scared stiff.
Consider the evidence: scary kids' telly with scary theme tunes; the potential for drowning in a pre-Thames Barrier London; the daily possibility of being blown to bits by the IRA; icebergs with the voice of John Hurt giving us Aids; heroin screwing us up (or at least giving us unsightly acne). And the granddaddy of all bogeymen: da bomb.
Permeating all aspects of pop culture, from 'Two Tribes' to Threads, the ridiculously real threat of nuclear annihilation gave us all the screaming abdabs - not helped by Jimmy T Murakami's adaptation of Briggs' graphic novel 'When The Wind Blows', a darkly satirical riposte to those fatuous 'Protect And Survive' leaflets (and an exact photo negative of Disney's 1957 propaganda cartoon Our Friend The Atom).
For Jim and Hilda Bloggs, taking a few doors off their hinges and climbing into a brown paper bag should be enough to ensure their post-holocaust survival. After all, the government wouldn't lie to us. Would they?
Consider the evidence: scary kids' telly with scary theme tunes; the potential for drowning in a pre-Thames Barrier London; the daily possibility of being blown to bits by the IRA; icebergs with the voice of John Hurt giving us Aids; heroin screwing us up (or at least giving us unsightly acne). And the granddaddy of all bogeymen: da bomb.
Permeating all aspects of pop culture, from 'Two Tribes' to Threads, the ridiculously real threat of nuclear annihilation gave us all the screaming abdabs - not helped by Jimmy T Murakami's adaptation of Briggs' graphic novel 'When The Wind Blows', a darkly satirical riposte to those fatuous 'Protect And Survive' leaflets (and an exact photo negative of Disney's 1957 propaganda cartoon Our Friend The Atom).
For Jim and Hilda Bloggs, taking a few doors off their hinges and climbing into a brown paper bag should be enough to ensure their post-holocaust survival. After all, the government wouldn't lie to us. Would they?