The /Col?d/ War

[vin_petrol]

In November 1975 The Cod War erupted between the UK and Iceland: a conflict about who got to fish for cod in the disputed 200 mile exclusion zone around Iceland. This wasn't a very serious war, with just a few shots being fired, a bit of ramming and lots of nets being cut. It was eventually resolved in June 1976.

After the Second World War, an Iron Curtain descended across the continent of Europe and The Cold War began.

To the confused ears of a young Vin, about 8 years old when this was happening, the two got strangely merged together in my mind. Cod sounds a bit like Cold, doesn't it? There's only one consonant difference. Plus, I suspect it's cold up there near Iceland.

I spent several years in the 70s there wondering exactly why the Soviet Union was so bothered about cod. It seemed they had a huge nuclear arsenal, poised to obliterate civilisation, and yet I was still getting cod fish fingers for my tea! Was it worth the risk of global destruction for this? The UK was clearly a combatant in this war, although quite why Iceland was allied with the evil Russians I could never quite work out. The Americans seemed to be on our side, although their president never seemed to mention cod when they were on the news, and he didn't seem to want to send an aircraft carrier to help fend of the Icelandic gunboats. It didn't entirely make sense.

It was a few years before I worked it out. I've never told anyone this till now :-)

Comments

[jozafeen.livejournal.com]

*sigh of relief*

I am so pleased it wasn't just me!

[vin_petrol]

I am so pleased it wasn't just me!

*gasp* so someone else made that mistake too! Wow - I'm feeling so much better about it now :-)

[cyberspice.livejournal.com]

I'm going to show my age by remembering the Goodies and their 2000 mile exlusion zone which meant it went across a lake somewhere in Derbyshire on which the Goodies fended off to Icelanders who were trying to fish on the north side of the lake.

[jozafeen.livejournal.com]

[giddy]I have just ordered their greatest hits CD from amazon![/giddy]

[cyberspice.livejournal.com]

/me is jealous.

I really must get some Goodies soon.

[vin_petrol]

I'm going to show my age by remembering the Goodies

I can remember The Goodies, though not this particular episode.

their 2000 mile exlusion zone which meant it went across a lake somewhere in Derbyshire on which the Goodies fended off to Icelanders who were trying to fish on the north side of the lake

Yes, that sounds like a typical Goodies episode!

I *can* remember "Bunfight at the OK Tea Rooms" and "Goodies and the Beanstalk". I have vague memories of others: them being inside a dinosaur, a giant kitten, Bill and Graham taking over the Scouts and turning them into an organisation of evil, some gas that turned everyone onto clowns, ecky-thump.

Of course, my fondest memory is of Tim Brooke-Taylor having baked beans poured all over him every week during the "ad break".

[mister-ed.livejournal.com]

I used to get terribly confused when the news talked about armed Guerilla fighters.. in fact I think it wasn't until an embaressing age that I realised my mental image of groups of hairy apes storming from the jungle with machine guns..

But then again, I believed in Father Christmas right up until I was nearly 10 years old... :)

[cyberspice.livejournal.com]

I used to get terribly confused when the news talked about armed Guerilla fighters.. in fact I think it wasn't until an embaressing age that I realised my mental image of groups of hairy apes storming from the jungle with machine guns..

Now that's the mistake I used to make as a child. Not helped by seeing Planet of the Apes at a very early age.

[ashe-black.livejournal.com]

Before my time that.... almost.

;#

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

The details of the Cold War pretty much passed me by until the early 80s - although I do vividly remember stuff about crouching under desks at school and hiding in the cupboard under the stairs at home in case of fallout. And I was only very dimly aware of the Cod War. I think I thought that Captain Birdseye was involved in some way.

Around the same era I was very much in favour of the three day week and power cuts in particular, although I was astute enough to realise that most grownups didn't see it that way. It was very exciting to have all the lights off and have paraffin lamps, candles and torches instead. I used to avidly read the weekly forecasts of LOW, MEDIUM and HIGH risk of cuts and get all twitchy and excited when it was a HIGH risk time.

[wiseoldbob.livejournal.com]

When I first heard that the Soviet Union had a Nuclear Arsenal I thought it was some kind of Football team based in a Moscow suburb equivalent to Woolwich in London. I remember in the Cod war British fishing boats equipped themselves with POTATO GUNS capable of firing salvos of King Edwards at their Icelandic foes. I remember thinking at the time that it was really lucky they had them standing by and wondered what would happen to the unspent munitions after the was ended. Would sacks of undischarged spuds be unceremoniously dumped in Beauforts Dyke?

[cyberspice.livejournal.com]

I can't see how that was supposed to harm the Icelandic. Not only were they 'stealing our cod' we were supplying them with spuds with which to make chips to go with them.