With just three strokes of his famous red pencil, Winston Churchill began rewriting history and sparked a culture of cover-up that has lasted 70 years.
In 1952, as he prepared a speech about our first atomic bomb, he slashed from the record all mention of the 1,400 servicemen who took part in the tests that made it possible.
And in doing so, the ageing PM set the stage for denials that have blighted UK atomic veterans ever since.
