On this day in 1960 there was a very British protest march against The Bomb. And the Beeb’s low-key report reflects the rather stately, controlled atmosphere that was quite prevalent at the time. Famous people like Bertrand Russell and the up-and-coming, uncharismatic academic politician, Michael Foot made speeches – and a clergyman praised the government! I wasn’t there but I knew a girl who was!
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was of course a lost cause. Witness the proliferation of weapons across the world. But the mood at the time was founded on fear that the arms race between the USA and the USSR would run out of control – with JFK leading the West’s efforts to find a peaceful way.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/18/newsid_2909000/2909881.stm
Boadicea's Chariot 
I was 4 months old.
At the time my mother wasn’t even born. Still, in Hiroshima there are daily petition drives on the site where the bomb fell calling for the end of nuclear weapons. (A sentiment I fully agree with. The policy of peace by mutually-assured destruction could still be kept as neutron bombs have the same potential for devastation without the radioactive fallout)
It all looks terribly civilised, and that is the way it should be!
No, I wasn’t there either, but I drove past Aldermaston a few months ago and immediately thought about these demonstrations.
Those were the days. Collars and ties, probably even ladies with hats and gloves. No attacks on the police, no looting or vandalism, and yet they made their point.
Yes, Sheona, and my friend was at St Paul’s – a hotbed of political unrest! 😉