A novel which, while aiming at popularity, respected its readership and was possessed of a decent level of craft Philip Hensher, Spectator No Highway (1948) ISBN 1-84232-273-7. Set in Britain and Canada; an eccentric "boffin" at RAE Farnborough predicts metal fatigue in a new airliner, but is not believed. The Comet failed for just this reason several years later, in 1954. Mary looked at her gratefully. “Well, that’s what I think. I mean, I couldn’t bear to – to just stop doing things and do nothing. You might as well die now and get it over.” In 1957, Nevil Shute, the British aeronautical engineer, Naval Reserve officer and novelist, wrote of the end of all things as we know it in his novel On the Beach. In his version of Melbourne in 1963, nuclear war has wiped out signs of life in the northern hemisphere, and radiation poisoning is drifting on the wind towards the city. With only a few months to go and no way to save yourself, what matters most? Who do we become when the world changes? Can we stop a catastrophe, or do we lean into it? The world is in big trouble. At least, it is in this 1957 dystopia. Our planet, ravaged by atomic bombs, is infected by a deadly dust that is slowly making its way southward to Melbourne, Australia, the last large city standing.

On the Beach didn't offer a literal second chance at life. But, as a nuclear cloud drifted over to people in Australia, it did show how knowledge of the end can dislodge the truest of feelings from their hiding places and give them a second chance Boston Globe Several of Shute's novels explored the boundary between accepted science and rational belief, on the one hand, and mystical or paranormal possibilities, including reincarnation, on the other hand. Shute did this by including elements of fantasy and science fiction in novels that were considered mainstream. They included Buddhist astrology and folk prophecy in The Chequer Board; the effective use of a planchette in No Highway; a messiah figure in Round the Bend; reincarnation, science fiction, and Aboriginal psychic powers in In the Wet.In the film, San Francisco's buildings are completely undamaged, with one memorable shot occurring when Sawfish first passes under the intact Golden Gate Bridge. In the novel the city has been largely destroyed and the bridge has fallen into the bay. I thought Shute was imaginative and sensitive in the world he created. Moira Davidson is now my new favourite Shute heroine. ThemesSelf-destruction; humankind's destructive relationship with technology; knowledge as both danger and salvation I can’t imagine anybody would come out of the theatre and not hold their loved ones just that little bit closer. And perhaps they might also take a look around themselves to see all of this beauty we still, perhaps, have time to save.

Marazan (1926) ISBN 1-84232-265-6. A convict rescues a downed pilot who helps him break up a drug ring. Shute's heroes tended to be like himself: middle-class solicitors, doctors, accountants, bank managers, and engineers—generally university graduates. However (as in Trustee from the Toolroom), Shute valued the honest artisans and their social integrity and contributions to society more than the contributions of the upper classes. Croft, Julian (2000) 'Norway, Nevil Shute (1899–1960)' in Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 15 Melbourne University Press, pp 498–499 Accessed 14 June 2007It didn’t work. In testing, the Panjandrum ran amok, haring off along the beach at 100km/h, launching missiles in every conceivable direction. It almost wiped out the entire Allied high command, who were observing from a very unsafe distance. It later appeared on Dad’s Army. Classic Serial: On the Beach (November 2008), BBC Radio 4 broadcast a full-cast audio dramatization in two-hour-long episodes, as part of their Classic Serial strand. [16] The Australian government provides citizens with free suicide pills and injections so they can avoid prolonged suffering from radiation poisoning. Periodic reports show the steady southward progression of the deadly radiation. As communications are lost with a city, it is referred to as being "out." On the Beach (2000 film) is a made-for-television film starring Armand Assante, Rachel Ward, and Bryan Brown.

Shute died in Melbourne in 1960 after a stroke. [23] Honours [ edit ] "BIG Books" at the Nevil Shute Memorial Library, Alice Springs (2018). Government services and the economy gradually grind to a halt. In the end, Towers chooses not to remain and die with Moira, but rather to lead his crew on a final mission to scuttle the submarine outside of Australian territorial waters. He refuses to allow his imminent demise to turn him aside from his duty to the US Navy, and he acts as a pillar of strength to his crew. In a later appraisal of both novel and film, historian Paul Brians ( Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction, 1895-1964 (1987)) considered the novel "inferior" to the film. His contention was that the portrayal of nuclear annihilation on screen was more accurate as it was clear that the world was coming to an end. [33]The expedition members then sail to an abandoned navy communications school south of Seattle. A crewman sent ashore with oxygen tanks and protective gear discovers that although the city's residents have long since perished, some of the region's hydroelectric power is still working due to primitive automation technology. He finds that the mysterious radio signal is the result of a broken window sash swinging in the breeze and occasionally hitting a telegraph key. After a brief stop at Pearl Harbor, the remaining submariners return to Australia to live out what little time they have left. Hensher, Philip (4 December 2009). "Nevil Shute: profile". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013 . Retrieved 12 April 2013. The play is a celebration of sex, love, desire and embodied, animal life. Photo by Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company It's these survivors that we meet in Australia. And they're all taking it pretty well. There's no chaos here. Everything is running fairly normally, except for the fact that we're all going to die in about six months. And not a pretty death, but a slow, painful one. Balio, Tino. United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987. ISBN 978-0-29911-440-4.

Murray, Scott (1996). Australia on the small screen, 1970-1995: The complete guide to tele-features and mini-series. Oxford University Press. p.193. Mitchell, Charles P. "On the Beach (1959)." A Guide to Apocalyptic Cinema. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-31331-527-5. I was in college at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis and vividly remember the sense of urgency I felt after President Kennedy’s now-famous speech where everything--my future and that of the entire world--was on the line. Afterwards I soberly rode the elevator up to my room from the dorm lounge where so many girls had watched and listened to grave and frightening announcements. Many of my companions were openly crying and beginning to despair. One of them turned to me and asked with great urgency, “What are you going to do?” I answered that I was going to study for the Sociology exam I was scheduled to take in the morning. She looked at me incredulously and exclaimed, “But we may be at war tomorrow!! We may all be dead!” I thought about her question and replied, “But we may NOT be at war, and if we are not, I will certainly have to take that exam. I can’t change anything out there, but I CAN continue with what I am here to do. I can be prepared for that test.”Lind, Lew. The Royal Australian Navy: Historic Naval Events Year by Year (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Reed Books 1986, First edition 1982. ISBN 0-7301-0071-5.