Today dated Wednesday April 30th 1986
The World hears about the Chernobyl Nuclear accident, which had occurred on the 26th April at the nuclear plant in the Ukraine just outside the city of Prypiat. 53000 people were evacuated from the city the next day. They were told it would be for only 3 days so many left all their possessions behind. The city lies within the 19 mile exclusion zone that still surrounds the Plant and is still empty except for those processions. The journalist Dom Joly has a very good chapter in his book ‘The Dark Tourist’ in which he describes visiting Prypriat.
31 deaths were directly attributed to the accident at the time. This figure rose to 64 by 2008, but if deaths from cancer and other illnesses brought on by radiation exposure are taken into account the figure could be as high as a hundred thousand.
Suprisingly the other reactors not wrecked by the accident were kept in use, the final one being shut down in December 2000!
The story at the bottom of the page was the final chapter in the saga that began with the death of George V in 1936 and his son Edward VIII deciding that marrying divorcee Wallis Simpson was more important to him than being King. After Edward’s abdication the couple became The Duke and Duchess of Windsor. He died in 1972 and she followed in 1986.
This appeared on the Astrology page. Quite good on the past (1960’s) – not so good on the future (1990s). I wonder how he got on with predicting the by-election results.
Spot the mistake. Yes, that’s Robert Hardy in the top picture and probably Bill Jordan in the bottom picture.
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