Southwark Library was only a fifteen-minute walk away, so Tibbot and I reached it by ten thirty. It stood at the end of what had once been a small parade of greengrocers and tobacconists and was now a large Closed Shop for Party members. The little windows were hung with curtains to prevent your seeing inside, but everyone knew that its shelves were always stocked. You could get bacon and legs of lamb all year round, and, in summer, strawberries. French wines for the price of beer. The stories got bigger all the time, so if you asked some people you would hear of whole pigs roasted on spits in the centre of the shop or whisky sold by the gallon. Others would tell you that their sisters’ friends worked there and they were allowed to take home a kilo of sausages each day. You never knew whom to believe.

A group of Teddy Boys were standing around outside, smoking. The Teddies had arrived about a year ago and seemed to be everywhere now, wearing their grandfathers’ Edwardian clothes, dressing like dandies in velvet frock coats and narrow-legged trousers, but in their pockets they carried flick-out knives and brass knuckles. They were harassed by the police, told to move on from their pavements and milk bars, and sometimes there would be a scrap between them but rarely anything serious. Secretly, many people admired them and their refusal to conform.

When we got to the library door, we were met with a sign saying that it was already closed, but Tibbot spotted movement inside and banged on the door. It was opened by a fidgety young man who, I noticed, was holding a collection of T. S. Eliot’s new work as National Poet – verses lauding our leaders that I couldn’t help but think were pretty thin.

‘Sorry, we’re closed,’ the young man said.

‘I know, I’m terribly sorry,’ I said, being as polite and friendly as I could. ‘We need to find a book. A particular book. Please. It will only take a second.’

‘I can’t.’

‘Please, it’s for my daughter’s homework. Just one second.’

‘I –’

‘She’s going to get in trouble if I don’t.’

He relented. ‘Oh, all right, come this way.’ He led us to his desk.

‘All we have is the long code,’ I said.