LONDON -- Do you fear Armageddon is coming? Then British farmer Mike Parrish can offer peace of mind in his underground bunker -- at a price.
The $44,260. admission fee guarantees you a spot for the next 10 years in a Cold War bunker designed to withstand nuclear, chemical and biological warfare.
Parrish, who becomes a grandfather for the first time in November, has already booked spots for the 50 members of his extended family. That leaves room for up to 100 more people and he is looking for everyone from an engineer to a comedian.
"The comedian would be there to keep us all amused. Boredom would weigh heavily on us in the bunker," he told Reuters as he sifted through applications for his survivalist safe haven.
"In a tight community for an indeterminate time you need a wide variety of skills -- cook, bottle washer, comedian and electrician," Parrish said.
And he is determined to get the right psychological mix.
"People need to be interviewed to ensure they are compatible," he said of the underground community he plans to pick for the Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker in the depths of the English countryside east of London.
With President Bush declaring a worldwide "war on terrorism" and London standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Washington, many traditionally phlegmatic Britons have abandoned their stiff upper lips. The bunker mentality abounds.
The government has urged people to be vigilant but insists there is no specific threat. That hasn't stopped a run on gas mask sales. "Chemical suits are the latest fashion accessories for survivalists," the Independent newspaper said Wednesday.
Tabloids are full of nightmare scenarios. Photos abound of soldiers in chemical warfare suits and masks. "The spectre of Germ Warfare: The Mail special dossier sorts out the facts from the fiction," declared one headline.
Parrish insists he isn't pushing the panic button. "I have offered this facility for the last two to three years. There was no crisis and no one was interested," he said.
"What am I meant to do -- close the doors and let nobody in? This is not profiteering, this is not scare-mongering."
The bunker was built on Parrish's land in 1952 to house government officials in the event of a nuclear attack. When the Cold War ended, he purchased the bunker.
It is now a tourist attraction that boasts its own Web site -- www.japar.demon.co.uk --- which offers a virtual tour behind reinforced concrete walls and deep into the bowels of the three-story bunker.
You can even hire the bunker out for parties -- but Parrish won't book any 18th or 21st birthday celebrations.
He said: "I have spent the odd night down there and we have it constantly filled with supplies."
But does the 53-year-old farmer fear the worst? "When I was young, people went on ban-the-bomb marches and were deciding whether to have children or not. It happens in every generation but life goes on."
