Random death

Geoff Pick of the London Metropolitan Archives made an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s statistical programme ‘More or Less’ this evening, talking about the way the V1 rockets hit London in 1944. The way the bombs landed, often in clusters, meant that many people thought that they were being deliberately aimed at certain targets. The London County Council Architect’s Department’s maps of the locations of the strikes were used by R. D. Clark, a statistician, to prove that they were in fact perfectly random. During the next seven days you can listen to the programme through the BBC’s website.

P.S. For what it’s worth, I tried very hard to find a reference number for these maps, but with no joy. Please chip in if you know better…