For some people, perhaps for many, it seemed the moment to drag out the old evangelical poster: The End of the World is Nigh. One prominent anti-nuclear campaigner fled noisily to the west coast of Ireland, imagining mistakenly that there she might be safe. It was a frightening time. Even today I can remember the chill in the air, something not just the result of autumnal bad weather.

I spent most evenings that week demonstrating outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square. It was a small demonstration and, as I recall, no one bothered much to protest outside the Russian embassy. We thought that the Americans were going to invade Cuba, a repeat of their efforts the previous year at the Bay of Pigs. We knew that they had plans to sabotage Fidel Castro's revolution.