Meet Jim and Hilda Bloggs. They are the characters through which Raymond Briggs tells the story of the impact of nuclear war. They could be anyone's grandparents. 
The story starts off in colourful detail. Jim, having lived through The Blitz, hears that war could once again be rearing it's ugly head. He's picked up some leaflets from the library on how to prepare for "The Bomb". Hilda worries about Jim ruining the paintwork and what will happen to their milk order. And no way is she using anything other than a toilet for the bathroom!
This war will be different from the one he remembers. As with many things, the memories of World War II become a little less frightening with the passing of time. Sleeping in a Morrison shelter was fun and wasn't it nice to hear Vera Lynn singing. Spitfires and Hurricanes in the blue skies over cornfields, those were the days. 
The airplanes that will come this time have even more sinister cargo on board.
This is where you start to feel quite sick for these two characters. With the turning of a page you see only white and know that the worst has happened, The Bomb has been dropped. There is no longer very much colour in the illustrations and we watch these two lovely people struggle to maintain life as normal while being affected by radiation sickness. The stiff upper lip and all that, ever present until the end. Even writing about this story brings tears to my eyes and I will never forget it. For Raymond Briggs to take you from smiling to tears in less than an hour in comic book form shows how talented he is. An amazing piece of work.
