If you slept for 30 years, you didn't miss anything

One of the funny aspects of the Austin Powers movies is the mileage they get from having Austin and Dr. Evil travel through time from the 1960s to the 1990s and back again. But if one has a certain amount of political and biological longevity, who needs time travel? Consider these little side details from the secret British government papers of 1973, just released under the 30 year rule.

The main details of the story were widely reported: that the US government severely annoyed its NATO allies by raising the nuclear threat level without telling them, as it seemed that the Yom Kippur war might be escalating. And some of the key personalities as the row played out?

[USSR leader] Brezhnev gave a warning that the Russians might intervene in the fighting between Israel and Egypt, the Israelis by that stage having gained the upper hand after General Ariel Sharon (now Israeli prime minister) had crossed the Suez Canal.

Allied anger at the subsequent Nato meeting was directed at the then ambassador Donald Rumsfeld, now secretary of defence, and American documents show that he was quite sympathetic to their complaints.