Listening to recording Bernard Lovell discussing how Lovell Telescope (or Mark I as it was then) was drafted in to act as the UK's early warning system against missile attack during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Part of preparing our new exhibition due to open later in 2021.

..."I had agreed to go on a small committee advising the Chief of Air Staff. One day in September of 1962 he asked me to stay behind and his message was most alarming..."

"He said we urgently need your telescope. Our agents have confirmed that the Soviets have a launching pad – he told me where it was but that has not been released so I can’t tell you – in which the missiles are directed against London and you have the only means of detecting them

"I said, well of course, it’s a simple matter, if you tell us where they are, we can tell you when they’re launched but we can’t do anything about them and neither can you.

"He said, on the contrary, we estimate it would be seven minutes after launching before they descended on London, during which time we would have scrambled our whole bomber force and we would be able to save millions of lives in London."

...transcribed from "An Audience with Sir Bernard Lovell" at the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, marking the 50th anniversary of the Lovell Telescope. You can listen to it on the @jodcast :
Pt 1: http://www.jodcast.net/archive/200709/ 
Pt 2: http://www.jodcast.net/archive/200709Extra/
Pt 3: http://www.jodcast.net/archive/200710/