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I remember it well, I was just over 3 weeks old
It was just after my 11th birthday and TBH I don't recall even knowing about it.
I was 6 and a half or so. I had no idea it was taking place. None at all. I suspect, quite strongly, that although my mum and Dad, clearly, would have known, they wouldn't have been "shit scared" as the concept of nuclear winter didn't sink in to the general populace until quite some years later. So I suspect many people would have been worried about another war, but not panic stricken.Interestingly, there was never going to be a war over Cuba anyway. JFK knew, through one of the bravest men this world has ever seen, that there were no usable missiles in Cuba and that Kruschev was bluffing. That failed bluff cost Kruschev his job. Saving the world cost Oleg Penkovsky his life. He was shot within 12 months. He is a man well worth googling.BobG
JFK Knew all the way through Oslo. Oleg Penkovsky was giving us and the Yanks almost a running commentary. He was a spy for the British btw rather than the Yanks though obviously it was them used his information during the crisis.BobG
I can remember the television coverage as a teenager,but I think the world must have seamed a lot larger then,and we were only the outsiders,plus what the population was allowed to know was quite restricted by todays standards. The Suez crisis,and the T.V, coverage of the North Sea floods in the 50s stand out more in my memory. The Doncaster area was still surrounded by quite a few R.A.F. stations, and I can remember standing in the school playground watching the transport planes and bombers taking off in large numbers. Plus dad saying he could be called up to the army again if things carried on. The East Coast floods were where we went on holiday,or day trips out,and were not a million miles away. One thing I will say, is that there did not seem to be the same hysteria there seems to be and blame culture of todays society,more of a lets pull together and we will get over this.That generation just after the war had a confidence in their ability to do anything and a willingness to do it, that I dont think is there today looking at the present day troubles such as the fire in London. They had just dealt with half the place being destroyed and other towns and cities as well.