What others are saying

Nearly half of all Americans think that the country will fight another world war and 40% fear a biological or nuclear attack

Meet Al Corbi, a man who considers the End of Days less a problem than a business opportunity, maker of some of the safest safe rooms in the world.

Why should we trust him? Because the White House trusted him. Because Oprah Winfrey does. Because he knows where the flamethrowers are.

What does he do? He builds safe rooms. Really, really safe rooms. He also consulted for the film “Panic Room”.

So he’s a builder? Only if you’d call Renoir a decorator. Actually, one of Corbi’s recent rooms contained a Renoir. Another had a Monet. Very nice they were too.

Could these rooms withstand intruders? Intruders? That’s nothing. Sure, he can secure your holiday home in the Hamptons. But he can also build rooms to last through the apocalypse. Or rather, the apocalypses. Like a builder offering paint samples, Corbi caters for several different types: nuclear, pandemic, solar flare…

Sounds a bit Cormac McCarthy... Not a bit of it. Corbi says his customers “don’t really think of it as apocalyptic. They think of it as a spare tyre in their trunk.”

But surely these things are heavy on the concrete and steel? Absolutely not. These days survivors don’t just want to survive, they want to thrive. If they have concrete it’s in an urban chic sort of way. As Corbi says: “Imagine the Ritz-Carlton underground.”

Who has he worked for? Everyone. Hollywood stars, heads of state, royal families. Plus the merely very rich.

Costs a bit I imagine? Not necessarily. Corbi can make a home more secure for a mere $1,300. But he can do far more. The sky’s the limit. Literally. Corbi once built a bunker that contained a simulated sky.

He created the sky? Under that sky he will enable people whom he calls “the next Adam and Eve” to survive. Think of Corbi as God. With a slightly trimmer beard.

So he made the sky. Did he remember the water?  Absolutely. Swimming pools are standard. So too are gyms, cinemas and wine cellars. Bunkers: excellent for avoiding nuclear fallout, better still for keeping your Mouton Rothschild at 14 degrees.

That’s a pretty roomy room. Safe “room” is so cold war. Think safe suite. In some cases, safe village. With staff. One included a mock high street and working spa. Armageddon can be stressful.

They have staff? As many as 50. And for “staff” read “potential human seedbank”. Selection is rigorous: about half the staff are special ops. Most are incredibly fit – in every sense. As Corbi says, “if you’re going to have an incredibly intelligent and incredibly fit person, why wouldn’t you have them be incredibly good looking too?”

A true underground Eden? Perhaps. Though maybe I didn’t mention the prison... You can get your very own prison built in. Nuclear holocaust tends to make people a bit testy. And when former Navy Seals get cross, “you don’t slap ’ em on the nose and tell them they are bad boys,” says Corbi. “You have a problem on your hands.”

Catherine Nixeyis the radio critic of the Times