Reading the brilliant Leningrad by Anna Reid. Civilians were instructed on how to attack German tanks. If they found themselves ducked behind a lamppost and lacking grenades, they were told to go at the tank with a knife. Now at the awful chapter detailing the things (and animals) the population were forced to eat. Fish glue. Also, the famous "Pavlov's dogs" (or their successors) were eaten by the laboratory staff.

THREAD

Here's a collection of Cold War themed books coming this Autumn.

I'm going to start with WINDS OF CHANGE: BRITAIN IN THE EARLY SIXTIES by Peter Hennessy, published by @AllenLaneBooks who've given me permission to share one of the book's nuclear war stories with you. Back in the early 60s, Whitehall planners worried about a surprise Soviet nuclear attack. The dreaded "bolt from the blue". How could the PM give nuclear retaliation orders if he was away from his desk? What if he was in his car? Harold Macmillan did not have a Nokia...

THREAD: another astonishing story about #Chernobyl

48 hrs after the disaster a huge fallout cloud, 10 miles wide, began drifting towards Moscow. The Soviet air force were sent up to chase it. Kate Brown's Manual For Survival, says they flew after the "inky black billows of radioactive waste" and shot at it with silver iodide.

I have synesthesia which means I can "taste" words. Ask me what your name tastes like. Hours of fun! Even better when my sister is here, as she has the condition too.