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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Greenham Common
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RAF base in Berkshire which became the site of a prolonged political protest by the 'Greenham women'. It was announced in 1980 that American Cruise nuclear missiles were to be sited there. In September of the following year there was a peace march from Cardiff to Greenham, after which a large number of women camped outside the wire perimeter of the base. They were still there to block the arrival of the first missiles in November 1983, and a small number – including some veterans from the original march – were there in 1991 when the last of the missiles was removed (in compliance with a disarmament treaty between the USA and the USSR).
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Some even stayed on to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the camp in September 1991, protesting now in general terms against war. Over the years the struggle had become ritualized in a repeated sequence of cutting the wire to enter the camp, being arrested for trespass and malicious damage, serving a prison sentence and then returning to the cause.
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