Following the Army entrance exams, the aspirants, predominantly from privileged private schools, awaited their fate in a small conference room. When ‘Mr McAulay’ was called, Magnus followed the subaltern into a stark room that veritably crackled with razor-edged military crispness.

The seeds of Magnus’s guarded approach to authority were sown well before the art teacher denied him entry for the GCE school leaving certificate: Magnus wasn’t even entered for the examination even though he’d topped the class in art.