Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG, CH, PC, DL (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British cabinet minister responsible for all financial matters. ... October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 64 days remaining. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier, and author. ... Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (June 12, 1897– January 14, 1977), British politician, was Foreign Secretary for three periods between 1935 and 1955, including World War II and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957. ... Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (April 9, 1906 – January 18, 1963) was a British politician, leader of the Labour Party from 1955 until his death in 1963. ... Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. ... December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... March 8 is the 67th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (68th in leap years). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ... The insignia of a knight of the Order of the Garter. ... The Order of the Companions of Honour is a British and Commonwealth Order. ... Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ... The Deputy Lieutenant is the deputy to the Lord Lieutenant of a county. ... December 9 is the 343rd day (344th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... March 8 is the 67th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (68th in leap years). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The new logo of the Conservative Party The Conservative Party is the largest centre right political party in the United Kingdom. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ...

Butler was one of the few British politicians to have served in the three posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary, but never achieved — and was twice passed over — for the premiership. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British cabinet minister responsible for all financial matters. ... The Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Home Secretary) is the chief United Kingdom government minister responsible for law and order in England and Wales; his or her remit includes policing, the criminal justice system, the prison service, internal security, and matters of citizenship and immigration. ... The position of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was created in the United Kingdoms governmental reorganization of 1782, in which the Northern and Southern Departments became the Home and Foreign Offices. ...

Early life

Butler was born in Attock Serai, in India into a family of Cambridge dons and Indian Governors; as a child his right arm was injured in a riding accident, leaving his hand never again fully functional. His limp handshake and inevitable lack of military experience (and stooping donnish manner at a time when many politicians were former officers) were political handicaps in later life. He was educated at Marlborough College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Cambridge Union Society in the summer term of his third year; in March 1924, as a newly-elected President, he entertained the Opposition Leader Stanley Baldwin at a debate. While at Cambridge he read French (in which he obtained a First), German and, in his fourth year, History and International Relations, in which he obtained one of the highest Firsts in the University. He specialised in the study of Sir Robert Peel, a man whose actions had split the Conservative Party and who may have greatly influenced Butler's later political trajectory. Butler also took part in the ESU USA Tour, the debating tour of the United States run by the English-Speaking Union. Marlborough College is a British boarding school in the county of Wiltshire, founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England clergy, although it now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. ... Full name Pembroke College Motto - Named after Countess of Pembroke, Mary de St Pol Previous names Marie Valence Hall (1347), Pembroke Hall (?), Pembroke College (1856) Established 1347 Sister College(s) Queens College Master Sir Richard Dearlove Location Trumpington Street Undergraduates ~420 Postgraduates ~240 Homepage Boatclub Pembroke College is a... The coat of arms for the Cambridge Union Society, which shares much in common with the coat of arms for the University of Cambridge. ... Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC (3 August 1867–14 December 1947) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on three separate occasions. ... Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was the Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from December 10, 1834 to April 8, 1835, and again from August 30, 1841 to June 29, 1846. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ... The English-Speaking Union has been running tours and events to promote the English language, and to foster international friendship for over 80 years. ... The English-Speaking Union is an international educational charity founded in 1918 to promote international understanding and friendship through the use of the English language. ...

After a brief period as a Cambridge don, teaching nineteenth century French history, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden in the 1929 general election. Butler held this seat until his retirement in 1965. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Saffron Walden is a small market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. ... The 1929 UK general election was held on 30th May 1929, and resulted in a hung parliament. ...

In Parliament

Butler held a series of junior Ministerial posts throughout the 1930s, often enacting controversial policy decisions. After a brief period as Parliamentary Private Secretary (ie. personal assistant) to the India Secretary Samuel Hoare, he was given his first ministerial job as Under-Secretary of State for India (1932-37) at the time the Indian Home Rule Act was being debated in Parliament amidst massive opposition, led by Winston Churchill, from rank-and-file Conservative supporters. In 1937-8 he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour. The Right Honourable Sir Samuel John Gurney Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood (1880-1959), more commonly known as Sir Samuel Hoare, was a British Conservative politician who served in various capacities in the Conservative and National governments of the 1920s and 1930s. ... Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for India, 1858-1937, for India and Burma, 1937-1948 to be added Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for India, 1858-1937, for India and Burma, 1937-1948 1858: Sir George Russell Clerk 1860: Herman Merivale 1874: Sir Louis Mallet 1883: (Sir) Arthur Godley 1909...

Subsequently he was (appointed 1938) Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Neville Chamberlain's government. Butler's close association to the government's policy of appeasement of Nazi Germany may have been instrumental in limiting his political career. Butler himself would later claim that appeasement had been aimed at buying time for Britain to rearm, and that he had little input into the direction of foreign policy and that true power was held by Chamberlain and Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, with the Prime Minister speaking in the House of Commons for the major aspects of government foreign policy instead of Butler, who was the sole Foreign Office minister in the Commons (an arrangement devised to respond to criticism of appointing a peer as Foreign Secretary rather than a reflection on Butler). This is a list of Under-Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs in the British Foreign Office since 1782. ... Arthur Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940), known as Neville Chamberlain, was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940. ... Appeasement is a policy of accepting the imposed conditions of an aggressor in lieu of armed resistance, usually at the sacrifice of principles. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Cover of Time Magazine April 12, 1926 Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, known as Lord Irwin from 1926 until 1934, (1881-1959) was a British Conservative politician. ...

David Lloyd George intended a compliment when describing Butler as "playing the part of the imperturbable dunce who says nothing with an air of conviction." David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor, OM, PC (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a British statesman who guided Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations through World War I and the postwar settlement as the Liberal Party Prime Minister, 1916-1922. ...

1944 Education Act

In the summer of 1941, Butler received his first Cabinet-level post when he was appointed President of the Board of Education by Winston Churchill. The position was widely seen as a backwater in wartime, with Butler having been promoted to it to remove him from the more sensitive Foreign Office. Despite this he proved to be one of the most radical reforming ministers on the home front, shaking up the education system in the Education Act 1944, which is often known as the Butler Education Act. At the end of the war Butler briefly served as Minister of Labour for two months in the "Caretaker" administration of Winston Churchill. The Secretary of State for Education and Skills is the chief minister of the Department for Education and Skills in the United Kingdom government. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier, and author. ... The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad. ... The Education Act 1944 changed the education system for secondary schools in England and Wales. ... Minister of Labour re-directs here. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier, and author. ...

Resistance plans

Butler had been designated to be one of the regional representatives of King George VI as part of the secret plan of resistance had Britain been occupied by the Nazi forces. Little even today is known about this proposed plan. The 100th and 101st regiments of the British Home Guard would have been the foundation of this British resistance. George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions from 11 December 1936 until his death. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... The Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) or Home Guard, was instituted by the British government during World War II to defend the UK in the event of an invasion by Germany. ... Members of the Dutch Eindhoven Resistance with troops of the US 101st Airborne Division in front of the Eindhoven cathedral during Operation Market Garden in September 1944. ...

Post-War

After the Conservatives lost their majority in the 1945 general election, Butler emerged as one of the most prominent figures during the rebuilding of the party. He served a record term as Chairman of the Conservative Research Department from 1945 to 1964. When the Conservative party returned to power in 1951 he was appointed to the senior post of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Butler followed to a large extent the economic policies of his Labour predecessor, Hugh Gaitskell, pursuing a mixed economy and Keynesian economics as part of the post-war political consensus. The Economist commented on these similarities by referring to a hybrid Chancellor, "Mr Butskell", from which the term Butskellism derives. Clement Attlee Winston Churchill The United Kingdom General Election of 1945 held on 5 July 1945 but not counted and declared until 26 July 1945 (due to the time it took to transport the votes of those serving overseas) was one of the most significant general elections of the 20th... The Conservative Research Department (CRD) is an integral part of the central organisation of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom. ... The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British cabinet minister responsible for all financial matters. ... Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (April 9, 1906 – January 18, 1963) was a British politician, leader of the Labour Party from 1955 until his death in 1963. ... A mixed economy is an economy that has a mix of economic systems. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... The Economist is a weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London, UK. It has been in continuous publication since September 1843. ... Butskelism is the, moderately satirical, term used in British politics to refer to the political consensus formed in the 1950s and associated with the exercise of office as Chancellor of the Exchequer by Rab Butler and Hugh Gaitskell. ...

Butler planned to move to system of free-floating the pound ("Operation ROBOT"), but this was scuppered by Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden in a rare intervention of his in domestic politics.^{[citation needed]} Operation ROBOT was an economic policy devised by HM Treasury in 1952 under Chancellor of the Exchequer R. A. Butler but which was never implemented. ...

In 1953 Butler acted as head of the Government when Winston Churchill suffered a stroke whilst his successor Anthony Eden was undergoing an operation overseas. Many have speculated that Butler could have become Prime Minister had he persuaded Churchill to retire at this point, but Butler lacked the ruthlessness that would have been necessary to accomplish this, and may have been concerned about opposition to a "Man of Munich" becoming Prime Minister. Churchill slowly recovered and retired in 1955, handing power to Eden with no controversy. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier, and author. ... Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (June 12, 1897– January 14, 1977), British politician, was Foreign Secretary for three periods between 1935 and 1955, including World War II and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957. ... The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is, in practice, the political leader of the the United Kingdom. ...

Butler's career did not prosper under Eden, about whom a number of Butler's sardonic witticisms surfaced. He described Eden as "half mad Baronet, half beautiful woman" and once agreed with a journalist that Eden was "the best Prime Minister we have". His penultimate budget slashed taxation immediately before the 1955 general election but soon afterwards it became apparent that the economy was 'overheating' (i.e. inflation and the balance of payments deficit were rising sharply) and his final budget undid several of the tax cuts, leading to charges of electoral opportunism. In December 1955 Butler was moved to the post of Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons. Although Butler continued to act as a deputy for Eden on a number of occasions, he was not officially recognised as such and his successor as Chancellor, Harold Macmillan, was assured by Eden that Butler was not senior to him.^{[citation needed]} A baronet (traditional abbreviation Bart, modern abbreviation Bt), is the holder of an hereditary title awarded by the British Crown, known as a baronetcy. ... The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on May 26, 1955, four years after the previous general election. ... The Lord Privy Seal or Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal is one of the traditional sinecure offices in the British Cabinet. ... The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons. ...

Despite this Butler chaired the Cabinet in Eden's absence. However Butler's stock stumbled during the Suez Crisis, particularly during Eden's absence in Jamaica, during which time Butler was seen to give weak leadership.^{[citation needed]} Combatants Israel United Kingdom France Egypt Commanders Moshe Dayan Charles Keightley Pierre Barjot Gamal Abdel Nasser Strength 175,000 Israeli 45,000 British 34,000 French 70,000 Casualties 197 Israeli KIA 56 British KIA 91 British WIA 10 French KIA 43 French WIA 650 KIA 2,900 WIA 2...

Butler and Macmillan

In January 1957 Eden resigned and did not give advice to Queen Elizabeth II as to who should succeed him. The Queen took advice from senior Ministers, as well as Churchill (who backed Macmillan), Edward Heath (who as Chief Whip was aware of backbench opinion) and from Lord Salisbury, who interviewed the Cabinet one by one and with his famous speech impediment asked each one whether he was for "Wab or Hawold" (it is thought that only between one and three were for "Wab"). The advice was overwhelmingly to appoint Harold Macmillan as Prime Minister instead of Butler. The media were taken by surprise by this choice, but although we shall never know what the result would have been had there been a formal election, it is hard to make much of a case that Butler was unfairly treated on this occasion. Butler himself later confessed in his memoirs that while there was a sizeable anti-Butler faction on the backbenches, there was no such anti-Macmillan faction. Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. ... Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. ...

Macmillan sought to placate Butler by appointing him to a senior position, albeit as Home Secretary rather than Foreign Secretary, the job he wanted. In his memoirs Macmillan claimed that Butler "chose" the Home Office, an assertion of which Butler drily observed in his own memoirs that Macmillan's memory "played him false". Butler held the Home Office for five years, in which he once more demonstrated his radical reforming credentials through a number of pieces of legislation, although his liberal views on hanging and flogging did little to endear him to rank-and-file Conservative members. Butler also held various additional posts on different occasions throughout this period, including Leader of the House of Commons, Lord Privy Seal and Conservative Party Chairman, the latter job prompting a newspaper analogy with Khrushchev's rise to power through control of the Soviet Communist Party. He was an increasingly successful public speaker. At one dinner party in June 1957, he began a speech with the words: "An after-dinner speech should be like a lady's dress - long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be interesting.". The Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Home Secretary) is the chief United Kingdom government minister responsible for law and order in England and Wales; his or her remit includes policing, the criminal justice system, the prison service, internal security, and matters of citizenship and immigration. ... The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons. ... The Lord Privy Seal or Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal is one of the traditional sinecure offices in the British Cabinet. ...

The succession to Macmillan

In the "Night of the Long Knives" reshuffle in 1962 Butler at last received the formal titles of Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State; however Macmillan used the occasion to promote younger men such as Maudling (Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Edward Heath (in charge of the EEC entry negotiations) from amongst whom he hoped to groom his successor. The following year, Macmillan was taken ill on the eve of the Conservative Party Conference and resigned as Prime Minister, asking the party bigwigs to "take soundings" of Cabinet Ministers and MPs to select a consensus candidate as the leader through the "customary processes". In the confusion of the next few days Butler found himself sidelined after delivering a poor Conference speech. Lord Hailsham was rejected after using the Conference to campaign openly for the job in a manner considered vulgar at the time. Support gathered around the outside candidate Lord Home. Much ink has been spilled on how badly the consultation process was rigged, but in the end Macmillan recommended Home for the premiership. The office of Deputy Prime Minister is one that has only existed occasionally in the history of the United Kingdom. ... First Secretary of State is a title within the British government, principally regarded as purely honorific, currently held by the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott. ... Quintin McGarel Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, KG, CH, PC, QC (October 9, 1907 – October 12, 2001), formerly 2nd Viscount Hailsham (1950–1963), was a British Conservative politician. ... Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home1, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC (July 2, 1903 – October 9, 1995), 14th Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963, was a British Conservative (actually SUP) politician, and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a year from October 1963 to October 1964. ...

Many were outraged over the way that Butler had been passed over yet again; Hailsham and Maudling were dissatisfied by the choice but agreed to serve under Home; Enoch Powell and Iain Macleod (who later claimed in print that the leadership had been stitched up by a "Magic Circle" of old Etonians) both refused to serve under Home and sought to persuade Butler to do the same, in the belief that this would make a Home premiership impossible and result in Butler taking office. However Butler refused to refuse, even claiming in a letter to "The Times" that to have done so might have led to a Labour government, a suggestion later dismissed as absurd by Harold Wilson. Some have attributed his actions to his university study of Peel and its lesson of it never being correct to split your party. Enoch Powell, a former brigadier, observed that they had given Butler a loaded revolver which he had refused to use on the grounds that it might make a noise, a metaphor which speaks volumes about how Butler's lack of military experience affected his colleagues' image of him. Simon Heffers biography of Enoch Powell, published in 1999 John Enoch Powell, MBE, PC, (June 16, 1912 – February 8, 1998) was a right-wing British politician and Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) between 1950 and February 1974, and an Ulster Unionist MP between October 1974 and 1987. ... The Right Honourable Iain Macleod, PC (1913 – 1970) was a UK Conservative politician. ...

It is worth observing that despite Butler's immense ability and experience he was not an overwhelming choice as leader. In leadership elections a generation later, it is often the case that the initial frontrunner (eg. David Davis in 2005), or the "obvious" and publicly popular candidate (eg. Michael Heseltine in 1990, or Kenneth Clarke in 1997 and 2001) often loses at the final hurdle to a "second-best" candidate who enjoys a wider consensus of support in his own party. But there is no doubt that the episode was a public relations disaster for the Conservatives, who had to elect their next leader (Edward Heath in 1965) by a transparent ballot of MPs.

Home appointed Butler as Foreign Secretary and it was in this post he served until his party narrowly lost office at the 1964 general election. Many believed that the Conservatives would have won under his leadership, but during the election campaign he had shown his lack of stomach for the fight by remarking to a journalist that the campaign was "slipping away". The position of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was created in the United Kingdoms governmental reorganization of 1782, in which the Northern and Southern Departments became the Home and Foreign Offices. ... The United Kingdom general election of 1964 result was a very slim majority for the Labour Party, of 4, and led to their first government since 1951. ...

Retirement from politics

At the comparatively young age of 62 Butler left office for the last time with one of the longest records of ministerial experience amongst contemporary politicians. Butler remained on the Conservative front bench for the next year, when he was appointed Master of Trinity College Cambridge. The same year he was awarded a life peerage as Baron Butler of Saffron Walden. He would then sit as a cross-bench peer in the House of Lords. He had declined offers of an hereditary earldom, both by Alec Douglas-Home in his resignation honours list and by Harold Wilson. Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names King’s Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street... The University of Cambridge (usually abbreviated as Cantab. ... Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home1, Baron Home of the Hirsel, KT, PC (July 2, 1903 – October 9, 1995), 14th Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963, was a British Conservative (actually SUP) politician, and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a year from October 1963 to October 1964. ... James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, PC (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was one of the most prominent British politicians of the 20th century. ...

At the time of his retirement from Parliament he was the longest continuously serving member of the Commons and Father of the House. As Master of Trinity, Butler was publicly promoted as a mentor and counsellor to Charles, Prince of Wales when he was enrolled in university; a humorous cartoon of the time showed Butler telling the Prince that he was to study a specially made-up History course "in which I become Prime Minister". Butler also actively served as the first Chancellor of the University of Essex from 1966 until his death in 1982 at Great Yeldham, Essex. Father of the House is a term that has by tradition been unofficially bestowed on certain members of some national legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. ... The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948), is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... The University of Essex is a British plate glass university. ...

Butler's son Adam served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 to 1987. Adam Courtauld Butler (born 11 October 1931) is a British Conservative Party politician, and the second son of the late Rab Butler. ...

In Fiction

In the alternate reality depicted in John Wyndham's story Random Quest, where the Second World War did not happen, Rab Butler is the Prime Minister of Britain (the story was written in 1954, when his becoming PM was a serious possibility). This phrase may be used: to refer to a group of computer games called Alternate Reality. as another way of describing the concept of a parallel universe in physics or metaphysics. ... John Wyndham (July 10, 1903 – March 11, 1969) was the pen name used by the often post-apocalyptic British science fiction writer John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris. ... Random Quest is a science fiction short story by John Wyndham. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Maurice Cowling, The Impact of Hitler - British Politics & Policy 1933-1940, Cambridge University Press, 1975, p.403, ISBN 0-521-20582-4
• F. S. Pepper (ed.), Handbook of 20th Century Quotations, Sphere Study Aids, 1984, p.105, ISBN 0-7221-6770-9