Britain conducts its first hydrogen bomb test on Malden Island in the Pacific. British Armed Forces personnel monitor the explosion from Christmas Island.
Ignorance of the harmful effects of radioactivity resulted in monitoring without protective equipment. Eyewitness accounts reveal that during the explosion the bystanders simply turned their backs and covered their faces with their palms.
Many were swept away by the shock wave, others suffered burns, and some claim to have seen their hand bones as an x-ray at the time of the explosion.
Some swam in the shallow waters of the sea and ate fish that floated to the surface after the explosion or drank rainwater. When cancer rates among servicemen on the island skyrocketed, sufferers formed an association and demanded compensation.
