Nuclear misundertanding

[Joe Chi Minh]

"I was only eight when I learnt they had split the atom, which caused a huge explosion.

'What are atoms, Mum?' I asked. 'Everything is made of atoms,' replied Mum. Meal times were never the same again, with my new knowledge. I'd take two hours to eat my dinner, cutting the sausages very carefully and softly, so as not to split an atom! I didn't want to be responsible for blowing up the house.

I never told the family of my worries, but kept them to myself. What a relief it was when I found out it took more than a knife to split the atom. From then on meal times were a pleasure."

T. Paxman,Stanford-le-Hope, Essex.

A letter in the Daily Mail's item, "Out of the mouths of babes".

What agonies that young lad must have gone through for goodness knows how long! Still he seems to have survived in fine fettle.