Britons love their cuppa

[Graeme]

AFP: British planners feared tea shortage after nuclear attack

British planners feared tea shortage after nuclear attack

LONDON (AFP) — Never mind the radiation: British contingency planners worried there would be a dramatic shortage of tea in the aftermath of a nuclear attack, recently declassified documents showed Monday.

The shortfall of the staple British beverage would be "very serious" if the country were to come under attack with atomic and hydrogen bombs, said according to a memo drafted between 1954 and 1956.

"The tea position would be very serious with a loss of 75 percent of stocks and substantial delays in imports and with no system of rationing it would be wrong to consider that even one ounce (28 grams) per head per week could be ensured," it said.

"No satisfactory solution has yet been found."

Another memo, written in April 1955, warned: "The advent of thermo-nuclear weapons ... has presented us with a new and much more difficult set of food defence problems."

The contingency planning documents listed a number of issues for discussion including arrangements to ensure stockpiles of food and the availability of bread, milk, meat, oils and fats, and tea and sugar.

The memos were among a number of documents released by the National Archives.

 

[Matt308]

Fretting about the trivial during a time of apocalypse. No offense meant, but that is entirely British. I love you guys.

 

[bigZ]

Fretting about the trivial during a time of apocalypse. No offense meant, but that is entirely British. I love you guys.

Bloody Colonials. If you guys hadn't dressed up as the gay member of YMCA. You wouldn't have to drink that coffee muck and face the possibilty of having Hilary as president. Other fringe benifits include no Civil War the abolition of slavery a generation or 2 earlier.

 

[Matt308]

...and an infestation of the dregs of the Muslim world. Good luck.

Cheers.

 

[comiso90]

Bloody Colonials. If you guys hadn't dressed up as the gay member of YMCA.

Twas our bastard father that sang the tune "Yankee Doodle" in a mocking manner.. ""put a feather in his hat and called it macaroni..." Yankee Doodle DANDY"

Twas our bastard father that was in turn mocked at their surrender when 'Yankee Doodle" was played over and over.

At least you held on to the Malvinas!

 

[Matt308]

Ah my Alizee', mon ami.

 

[comiso90]

Ah my Alizee', mon ami.

"Lafayette, we are here!"

.

 

[Matt308]

Veni (aahhh), vedi, vici.

I even Effed that up Comiso!

 

[comiso90]

Matt, you saw and conquered..

whats the first part? ... remind me..

 

[Matt308]

I came!

 

[comiso90]

Yep... Alizee' would be proud

 

[Matt308]

Or perhaps not.

 

[Burmese Bandit]

Not only did the Brits worry about losing their tea, but now I, the Burmese Bandit, can reveal that they even worried about losing their marmite.

To all the non-brits on this forum...I ain't telling what that is. Look it up for youselves!!!

 

[109ROAMING]

isn't Marmite that Aussi made spread? that you put on toast? that tastes good

 

[Airframes]

Same stuff, Daniel, but it's called 'Vegimite' in Oz.

 

[Njaco]

by-product of Spam - spam, spam, spam, spam, wonderful spam........

 

[109ROAMING]

Same stuff, Daniel, but it's called 'Vegimite' in Oz.

Wel I didn't know that!

 

[Maximowitz]

Not only the British like tea, my fiance in Sweden is positively addicted to it, particularly the Earl Grey blend. As a result everytime I visit her 25% of my backpack is filled with teabags, 25% is cheese (another addiction) which only leaves 50% for the single malt whisky I buy at the airport. Clothes? Who needs them?

The Stockholm Police have me listed as a notorious cheese and tea smuggler but don't actually have a law against it. Yet.

 

[109ROAMING]

True that!

Earl grey is addictive stuff

approach with caution people!

 

[Gnomey]

Haha, yeah it certainly is. Although I don't drink that much at uni, I drink a fair amount at home when I feel it.