The Archive Hour is one of those Radio 4 programmes that really ought to have a decent… erm… archive. Since it doesn’t and since you won’t be able to listen to this brilliant edition – presented by Charles Wheeler – about the USS Nautilus’ quite amazing voyage under the North Pole in 1958 if you don’t get a move on, here’s an MP3.
It turns out that, while the Russians were winning the race to escape the planet, the Americans were profoundly and irreversibly winning the race for domination of the planet’s surface by demonstrating the ability to deliver an ICBM to… just about anywhere from… just about anywhere (and with air conditioning, a grand staircase between decks and lobster on Fridays while they were at it). Brilliant radio.