When the Wind Blows (comics)

When the Wind Blows is a 1982 graphic novel, by British artist Raymond Briggs, that shows a nuclear attack on Britain by the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of a retired couple, Jim and Hilda Bloggs. The book was later made into an animated film.

Plot

The book follows the story of the Bloggses, characters previously seen in the book Gentleman Jim. One afternoon the couple hears a message on the radio about an "outbreak of hostilities" in three day's time. Jim immediately starts construction of a fallout shelter, while the two reminisce about the Second World War.

The Bloggses soon hear of enemy missiles heading towards England, and they just make it into their shelter before a nuclear explosion. They stay in it for several days, misreading the advice given in governmental leaflets: they believe they have to stay in the shelter for fourteen days instead of two. They do briefly go outside to get some fresh air and rainwater, exposing themselves to a large amount of radioactive fallout.

Jim and Hilda exhibit considerable confusion regarding the serious nature of what has happened after the nuclear attack; this generates gentle comedy as well as darker elements. As the novel progresses, their situation becomes steadily more hopeless as they begin to suffer the effects of radiation sickness. Hilda suffers the most, losing her hair, vomiting and has bleeding gums. The novel ends on a bleak note, with both praying in their fallout shelter.

Trivia

Briggs used the same characters in his earlier book Gentleman Jim, and they are similar to his parents as he later portrayed them in Ethel and Ernest. It includes references to the government leaflet, Protect and Survive, whose obvious inadequacy and willful disingenuousness in the face of such a catastrophe makes the couple's suffering seem even more poignant.

The title is on the one hand a reference to a phrase in Protect and Survive — "the radioactive dust, falling where the wind blows it, will bring the most widespread dangers of all" — and on the other a quotation from a traditional lullaby:

Rock-a-bye, baby,

In the tree top.

When the wind blows,

The cradle will rock.

When the bough breaks,

The cradle will fall,

And down will come baby,

Cradle and all.

"When The Wind Blows" has been cited by songwriter, Roland Orzabal (Tears For Fears) as a major influence on the song "Mothers Talk". The song contains the lyric "when the wind blows".

Iron Maiden have cited "When The Wind Blows" as the inspiration for the closing ten minute track of the same name on their forthcoming studio album, 'The Final Frontier'.

Adaptations

Film

The book was made into an animated film by director Jimmy Murakami in 1986. The couple are voiced by Sir John Mills and Dame Peggy Ashcroft. The soundtrack consists of songs, many with an anti-nuclear theme, by prominent pop singers and groups, including Roger Waters, Genesis and David Bowie. The film shocked many when it was first released.^{[citation needed]} Although the subject matter and overall plot and tone of the film is extremely serious, the naïvity of the characters lends the film aspects of gentle but dark comedy.

Radio

There was also a BBC Radio 4 dramatisation in 1983, with the voices of Peter Sallis and Brenda Bruce. A stage version, created at around the same time, has been performed several times since.

Other appearances

Licensed images from When the Wind Blows appear in the short book Sussex After the Bomb - What Will Happen to Newhaven, Lewes, The Ouse Valley, Seaford, Eastbourne and Brighton published by The Profession for Peace (1984).