- Joined
- 27 September 2006
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In the 1960s children's comic TV21 Alan Fennell enlarged on the puppet shows of Gerry Anderson by creating a fictional world of 2065.
He even provided a back history in which a limited nuclear in Europe had been started by an accident in 2028. A Prime Minister talking to an Air General (sic) told him to "Launch missiles". At that moment a robot digger was hit by badly shot golf ball and cut the phone lines. The Prime Minister of the unspecified country (possibly Britain as the golf course looked British) had intended to add "only when I tell you to, and not before". The Air General may have been US (SAC was all the rage in the early sixties "Dr Strangelove" etc).
The war led to the creation of a fictional Soviet Union substitute called BEREZNIK carved out of the then East Germany, Poland and the Ukraine.
It also led to Britain being run by a military dictatorship called the Directorate, headed by a Director resident in what is clearly Buckingham Palace in London.
In 2047 the new World Government headed by World President Nikita (as in Kruschev) Bandranaik (similar to the leader of Ceylon at the time) sends an agent to help the British overthrow the military. A Welshman called Dai emerges as Prime Minister and leads Britain back into the World Government (based at Unity City in Bermuda or the Bahamas, I forget which) Significantly even after the restoration of democracy, a British submarine featured in a later episode is named "British Navy 7". The Royal Family presumably never return. Lady Penelope of THUNDERBIRDS fame is attributed in one short reference as being the British Senator to the World Government.
In the real world of 2015 with the Ukraine and Baltic States as trouble spots and the West fumbling for leadership, Alan's vision may not be so far off the mark.
He even provided a back history in which a limited nuclear in Europe had been started by an accident in 2028. A Prime Minister talking to an Air General (sic) told him to "Launch missiles". At that moment a robot digger was hit by badly shot golf ball and cut the phone lines. The Prime Minister of the unspecified country (possibly Britain as the golf course looked British) had intended to add "only when I tell you to, and not before". The Air General may have been US (SAC was all the rage in the early sixties "Dr Strangelove" etc).
The war led to the creation of a fictional Soviet Union substitute called BEREZNIK carved out of the then East Germany, Poland and the Ukraine.
It also led to Britain being run by a military dictatorship called the Directorate, headed by a Director resident in what is clearly Buckingham Palace in London.
In 2047 the new World Government headed by World President Nikita (as in Kruschev) Bandranaik (similar to the leader of Ceylon at the time) sends an agent to help the British overthrow the military. A Welshman called Dai emerges as Prime Minister and leads Britain back into the World Government (based at Unity City in Bermuda or the Bahamas, I forget which) Significantly even after the restoration of democracy, a British submarine featured in a later episode is named "British Navy 7". The Royal Family presumably never return. Lady Penelope of THUNDERBIRDS fame is attributed in one short reference as being the British Senator to the World Government.
In the real world of 2015 with the Ukraine and Baltic States as trouble spots and the West fumbling for leadership, Alan's vision may not be so far off the mark.
