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    BBC History Magazine

    ALSO ON THE BOOKSHELF

    Aug 06, 2020 2 minutes
    WORDS BY ELLIE CAWTHORNE AND MATT ELTON

    SCIENCE

    Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium by Lucy Jane Santos (Icon Books, 320 pages, £16.99)

    Radioactive fever

    In the early 20th century, Britons clamoured for a seemingly magical new substance: radium. This supposed wonderstuff was packed into all kinds of everyday goods, from radium water sold over the counter at Harrods and glow-in-the-dark watches to radioactive hair tonic

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