Peter Rhodes on scary Russians, a British “death ray” and the late Queen's love of a TV school
Nato warns that within 20 years we could be at war with Russia. One of the benefits of being a babyboomer is that we cannot remember a time when Nato was not warning of war with Russia. It's what it does.
And while Putin is certainly a worry, Russia was once led by people like Nikita Khrushchev, a hands-on, headbanging hero of wartime Stalingrad. He seemed to fear nothing and once allegedly made his point at the United Nations by taking off a shoe and banging his desk, while threatening that the Soviet Union would “bury” the West. Now, that's scary.
British boffins have developed a laser-beam weapon called Dragon Fire which will zap enemy missiles, drones and aircraft. It is an accountant's dream. Shooting down a crude drone can be done now, but conventional anti-drone missiles cost millions. Each Dragon Fire pulse will cost only about £10.
I find myself reminded of Bernard Blakemore of Wolverhampton, a BBC team leader who in the 1940s was based at “a magical sort of place,” the top-secret Bawdsey Manor, working on Radio Direction Finding, later known as radar. Although it made a massive contribution to winning the war, radar never lived up to its earliest promise. In the mid-1930s, Bernard recalled, the War Office hoped scientists could produce a “death ray” to destroy enemy aircraft. That never happened but 90 years later, something similar is about to change the face of the battlefield.
There was a sharp pip-pip! and our carbon-monoxide detector gave up the ghost. The design life is about seven years and it had loyally served us at least that long, monitoring the air quality 24/7. I pressed the test button but no lights shone. Its tiny screen showed the single, uncomplaining and rather heroic word: “End.” I can't think when I've been so moved by a machine.
The broadcaster Gyles Brandreth reveals that the late Queen Elizabeth was a great fan, and mimic, of Grange Hill and entertained dinner guests with a “flawless” 10-minute sketch, complete with the accents of ten characters. I can't help wondering how many of the Queen's guests, while applauding enthusiastically, hadn't the faintest idea what Grange Hill was.
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