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Mystery island

IN THE British TV show The Avengers, the story often unfolded on a mysterious military research base. The spooky work going on in sinister buildings was cloaked in a disguise of false normality by scenic English countryside, a local pub, a church and farmland. Avengers buffs might like to know that just such a place exists in real life and you can visit it. It’s not secret; the authorities just don’t talk about it.

The windswept island of Foulness, off the muddy Essex coast, has been used as a firing range for at least 100 years. It is…

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