British nuclear tests were conducted at Maralinga in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia between 1956 and 1963. A total of seven major nuclear tests took place at Maralinga, with explosive yields ranging from approximately 1 to 27 kilotonnes of TNT (4 to 110 terajoules). Two major test series were conducted: Operation Buffalo (final test pictured) in 1956 and Operation Antler the following year. One bomb used cobalt pellets as a tracer for determining yield, resulting in rumours that Britain was developing a cobalt bomb. The site was also used for trials of neutron initiators and tests on the compression of nuclear weapon cores and the effects of fire on atomic weapons. It was left contaminated with radioactive waste, and a clean-up was attempted in 1967. A further clean-up was completed in 2000. In 1994, the Australian government paid $13.5 million in compensation to the traditional owners, the Maralinga Tjarutja people. The land was restored to them in 2014.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_nuclear_tests_at_Maralinga

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1580:

Explorer Francis Drake's galleon Golden Hind (replica pictured) sailed into Plymouth, England, completing his circumnavigation of the globe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Hind

1917:

World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood, part of the Battle of Passchendaele, began near Ypres, Belgium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Polygon_Wood

1933:

As gangster Machine Gun Kelly surrendered to the FBI, he supposedly shouted "Don't shoot, G-Men!", which became a nickname for FBI agents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Gun_Kelly

1983:

Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov averted a potential nuclear war by identifying as a false alarm signals that appeared to indicate an impending U.S. missile attack. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

jovial: 1. (comparable) Cheerful and good-humoured; jolly, merry. 2. (not comparable, astrology, obsolete) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Jupiter; having the characteristics of a person under such influence (see sense 1). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jovial

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black. We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown.   --T. S. Eliot https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot