On Tuesday King’s was fortunate to receive a visit from survivors of the August 9th 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki. On this day, a 21-kiloton plutonium weapon was exploded above the city, causing an estimated 73,000 deaths and 75, 000 injuries. Both survivors were young at the time but were able to vividly recall the horror of that day and its aftermath. The first survivor, Chiyoko Motomura, described the sound of the explosion as ‘Bachiiiiing’-a lightning like crack. With some emotion in her voice (even after all these years), she was able to describe how her grandmother protected her by running from the kitchen and using her own body as a shield. The second survivor, Dr Masao Tomonaga, showed aerial reconnaissance images of where his family home had stood, an electronic annotation of the image stating matter of factly ‘The point I survived’. Year 8 pupils were given the opportunity to ask questions, many of which were intelligent and insightful: a point not lost on our visitors. The message was clear, nuclear weapons are a devastating invention and that it is now the responsibility of the younger generation to take on the baton of peace.