http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(novel)
Wikipedia
On the Beach (novel)
On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic end-of-the-world novel written by British-Australian author Nevil Shute after he had emigrated to Australia. It was published in 1957.
The novel was adapted for the screenplay of a 1959 film featuring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Fred Astaire, and a 2000 television film starring Bryan Brown, Armand Assante and Rachel Ward.
The story is set primarily in and around Melbourne, Australia in what was then the near future (1963, approximately a year following World War III). The war has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout and killing all human and animal life. While the nuclear bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, global air currents are slowly carrying the fallout across the Intertropical Convergence Zone to the southern hemisphere. The only part of the planet still habitable is the far south of the globe, specifically Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, and the southern parts of South America, although all of these areas are slowly succumbing to radiation poisoning as the fallout continues to circulate southwards. Life in Melbourne continues in a reasonably normal fashion, though the near-complete lack of motor fuels makes travel difficult.
From Australia, survivors detect a mysterious and incomprehensible Morse code radio signal originating from Seattle, Washington in the United States. With hope that some life has remained in the contaminated regions, one of the last American nuclear submarines, USS Scorpion, placed by its captain Dwight Towers under Australian naval command, is ordered to sail north from its port of refuge in Melbourne (Australia's southernmost major mainland city) to try to contact whoever is sending the signal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Beach_(1959_film)
Wikipedia
On the Beach (1959 film)
On the Beach (1959) is a post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name. The film features Gregory Peck (USS Sawfish captain Dwight Lionel Towers)
The story is set in a future 1964, in the months following World War III. The conflict has devastated the northern hemisphere, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout and killing all life. While the bombs were confined to the northern hemisphere, air currents are slowly carrying the fallout south. The only areas still habitable are in the far southern hemisphere, like Australia.
From Australia, survivors detect an incomprehensible Morse code signal from the United States in San Diego. With hope that someone is alive back home, the last American nuclear submarine, USS Sawfish, under Royal Australian Navy command, is ordered to sail north from Melbourne to try and make contact with the signal sender. The captain, Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck), leaves behind his good friend, the alcoholic Moira Davidson (Ava Gardner), despite his feelings of guilt about the death of his wife and children in Connecticut. Towers refuses to admit they are dead and continues to behave accordingly.
The Australian government arranges for its citizens to receive suicide pills and injections, so that they end things quickly before there is prolonged suffering from the coming radiation sickness. An Australian naval officer, Peter Holmes (Anthony Perkins), has a baby daughter and a naive and childish wife, Mary (Donna Anderson), who is in denial about the impending disaster. Assigned to travel with the American submarine for several weeks, Peter tries to explain to Mary how to euthanize their baby and kill herself with the lethal pills in case he's not yet home. Mary, however, reacts violently at the prospect of killing her daughter and herself.
One scientist's theory is that the radiation near the Arctic Ocean could be less than that at mid northern hemisphere. If so, this would indicate the radiation could disperse before reaching the southern hemisphere. This was to be explored along with the submarine's main mission.
After sailing to Point Barrow, Alaska, they determine that radiation levels are intensifying. The submarine next stops at San Francisco. The views through the periscope show no signs of life and no damage to buildings. One crewman jumps ship to spend his last hours in his hometown. After attempting to convince the crewman to return, Towers accepts his decision. The crewman is last seen fishing and awaiting his death as the Sawfish submerges, never to return.
Sawfish then travels to an abandoned oil refinery in San Diego, where they discover though everyone is dead, the hydroelectric power is still operating. The ship's communications officer is sent ashore in a radiation suit to investigate. The mysterious signal is the result of a Coca Cola bottle being bumped by a window shade fluttering in the breeze and tapping a telegraph key.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/16/newsid_3907000/3907233.stm
BBC
ON THIS DAY 16 November
1979: Blunt revealed as 'fourth man'
The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, has named Sir Anthony Blunt, a former security service officer and personal adviser on art to the Queen as the "fourth man" in the Cambridge spy ring.
The announcement - given in a written answer in the Commons - ends a 15-year cover-up.
Mrs Thatcher revealed he had confessed to the authorities in 1964 but under a secret deal was granted immunity from prosecution.
Minutes after the Prime Minister's statement Buckingham Palace said he was being stripped of his knighthood.
The news comes after renewed speculation about Professor Blunt's role in the defection in 1951 of spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, prompted by a new book The Climate of Treason.
In hiding
Professor Blunt has gone into hiding. He is believed to have fled the country and gone to somewhere in southern Europe.
Ministers admitted the professor's lawyer had been warned in advance about the prime minister's statement - although he was not told exactly what it would say.
He had been part of a Cambridge spy ring made up of Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and Harold "Kim" Philby - who was in charge of British intelligence's anti-communist counter-espionage from 1944-46.
Burgess and Maclean defected in 1951 following a tip-off from Philby. He defected himself in 1963.
Professor Blunt became a Marxist under the influence of his Cambridge friend Guy Burgess.
In World War II he served as an officer in MI5 between 1940 and 1945. The authorities were aware of his Marxist views but did not consider him to be a security risk.
Professor Blunt's name emerged during investigations into the defection of Burgess and Maclean. He was interviewed 11 times but did not confess.
In 1964 new information came to light which implicated Blunt in the Cambridge spy ring. The Attorney General decided the only way to get to the truth of the affair was to persuade Blunt to confess by offering him immunity from prosecution.
He admitted he had become an agent of Russian intelligence and talent-spotted for them at Cambridge in the 1930s.
While with MI5 he used his old contacts in the Russian intelligence service to assist in the arrangements for Burgess and Macleans' defection.
During this time Blunt was allowed to remain art adviser to the Queen. The security services did not want to risk losing his co-operation by forcing him to resign.
Andrew Boyle, author of the book The Climate of Treason, published ten days ago, said he had known Professor Blunt was the fourth man for three years.
In Context
The following day it was revealed Professor Blunt had not left Britain - as widely reported at the time - although he had gone into hiding.
A friend and former student of the spy, Brian Sewell, told the media Professor Blunt was "appalled" by Mrs Thatcher's statement.
Professor Blunt made his own statement to the media on 20 November in which he claimed the decision to grant him immunity from prosecution was taken by the then prime minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home.
He said he had come to "bitterly regret" his spying activities, but, at the time, he had done so out of idealism.
He died in disgrace three years later.
It is thought some former colleagues from MI5 were angry that he continued to enjoy such a privileged life despite his treachery and they set out to expose him.
They leaked details of his spying career to the author Andrew Boyle who then wrote a book, in which Professor Blunt's character was thinly disguised as someone called Maurice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Blunt
Wikipedia
Anthony Blunt
Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), was a British art historian who was exposed as a Soviet spy late in his life.
Blunt was Professor of the History of Art at the University of London, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Surveyor of the King's Pictures and London. Known as Sir Anthony Blunt, KCVO between 1956 and 1979 (when he was stripped of his honours), he was exposed as a member of the Cambridge Five, a group of spies working for the Soviet Union from some time in the 1930s to at least the early 1950s.
Public exposure
Blunt's role was represented under the name Maurice in Andrew Boyle's book, Climate of Treason in 1979. Maurice was taken from the E. M. Forster novel of that name. Blunt tried to prevent the book being published, which was reported in the magazine Private Eye. This drew attention to Blunt. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher revealed Blunt's wartime role in the House of Commons firstly on Thursday 15 November 1979, and in more detail on 21 November. Sir Bernard Ingham, Thatcher's press secretary, suggested "I believe she did it because she didn't see why the system should cover things up. This was early in her Prime Ministership. I think she wanted to tell the Civil Service that the politicians decide policy, not the system. She wanted them to know who was boss."
