Trident

[Arglwydd Golau]

Wargames wasn't the same as Threads but it did play on peoples fears of nuclear war though. Basically about an American super computer that nearly starts WW3 by accident.

Oh, don't think that's the one I'm thinking of, then...there was one that ended up with Nuclear strikes (set in the US)

 

[Haydn1971]

I remember watching 'Threads' in that year, set in Sheffield, I think - totally disturbing, I recall stepping outside my house at the time when it finished just to see that everything was normal.

Being Sheffield born and bred made Threads all that more scary for me as a 13 year old recognising the places in the film.

 

[ainsworth74]

Oh, don't think that's the one I'm thinking of, then...there was one that ended up with Nuclear strikes (set in the US)

You're thinking of The Day After.

WarGames should also not be confused with The War Game which is a 1965 BBC film on the topic of a nuclear strike on Britian.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The film Threads came out in 1984 and Nuclear War seemed a possibility to me and my classmates at school then. Wargames came out in 1983. It all seemed very real. I think it said at the end that "The only way to win is not to play". It is all very sad.

I was at school only three miles away as the crow flies from Greenham Common at the time of the cruise missiles thing and did not at any point feel frightened by the fact.

We would reasonably often see a mobile missile launcher convoy heading out of the area up the A34 on exercise; the sight of one of these passing thew bottom of the school field always generated a lot of excitement and people rushing to see it.

 

[Phil.]

I would guess that part of the reason why Jeremy Corbyn is so opposed to our nuclear deterrent is that he can, like me, remember the time in 1961 when it seemed not just possible, but highly likely, that both the USSR and the USA would push the button, one after the other, and that even if only one did it the effects on the whole world would be catastrophic. I was 13 at the time, Corbyn would have been 12, and the fear was very genuine. If people like Putin or Trump had been in charge at the time then we would not be here on this forum now.

For those who are wondering................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QP02Jf1Vl8

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I would guess that part of the reason why Jeremy Corbyn is so opposed to our nuclear deterrent is that he can, like me, remember the time in 1961 when it seemed not just possible, but highly likely, that both the USSR and the USA would push the button, one after the other, and that even if only one did it the effects on the whole world would be catastrophic. I was 13 at the time, Corbyn would have been 12, and the fear was very genuine. If people like Putin or Trump had been in charge at the time then we would not be here on this forum now.

The year in question was 1962 and I had just started my first year at Manchester University.

Whilst I was a few years older than you then, noting your mention of Trump in your posting, just go forward a couple of years to 1964 when Barry Goldwater was standing against Lyndon Baines Johnson in that election and one of the reasons why he shocked voters was by his speech in May 1964 when he suggested that nuclear weapons should be treated more like conventional weapons and used as such in Vietnam.

He lost that election by a landslide to Johnson.

 

[asylumxl]

For those who are wondering................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QP02Jf1Vl8

Thanks for posting that. Interesting watching.

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me how wrong my opinions are, but the videos commentary makes various references to the need to be a "power" and remain a "world player", which just sums it up perfectly and I feel nothing has changed.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

You're thinking of The Day After.

WarGames should also not be confused with The War Game which is a 1965 BBC film on the topic of a nuclear strike on Britian.

Many thanks, yes, that's the one.
Whatever one's views on this subject, there certainly was much debate on this issue in the Media during the early to mid 1980's. With the rather strident Thatcher in Downing Street, a hawkish Reagan in the White House, old men in the Kremlin, the Government's publication of 'Protect and Survive' (which I feel added to the concern) CND's riposte 'Protest and Survive', the aforementioned two films, Greenham Common, Cruise Missiles ...rarely were nuclear weapons out of the papers and TV.