‘PC Lock and the BBC men were placed in a small upstairs room with embassy chauffeur Ron Morris. With their hands held above their heads, they watched and listened to the increasing commotion in the building. The gunmen were shouting for Ali Afrooz, who was Ayatollah Khomeini's chargez d'affaire in London. They finally found him and threw him in with the British hostages. He had a nasty gash on his face and a black eye. The gunmen apologized constantly to the British prisoners, saying again and again that their problem was not with any non-Iranians.
Back in Hereford, as we were waiting to leave for Scotland, word of the takeover at the embassy came through. Big Bob smiled coldly. 'My Tikka is ready.' he said, closing one eye and squeezing an imaginary trigger. At about midday, Major Hector Gullen called us into the tearoom for a briefing. The exercise was off.