‘The abuse started as soon as we arrived,’ King said. ‘Mental abuse before the sexual abuse. “Shakespeare is here, T. E. Lawrence is here, and you are here because you are nothing, you are specks of dirt on my shoes”. And then the building up – feeling you were special, almost acolytes – by this God-like and punitive father figure who knew everything there was to know about history, art, literature, war and the ways of the flesh. We were thirteen years old! There was, shall we say, a disparity of power. We wanted to please him. My God – we wanted that more than anything in the world.’

The grey ribbon of motorway hummed and unfurled ahead of me, eating up the miles. I let him talk.

‘And he gave us all what we were looking for. The insecure – Adam, Salman – were made to feel as if they belonged, as if they were part of a family, a country, a secret world. The strong – Hugo, Ned, Guy – were made to feel they were clever. The exceptional – James, of course – were made to feel that they were touched by God. And he told us we were special, and he taught us to sneer at the rest of the world, and he talked of beauty and truth as he put us in his mouth.’

He was silent for miles.

‘I bailed out,’ King said eventually. ‘I don’t know why it was possible for me and not the others. Some basic survival instinct I had and they lacked. They were all exceptional boys, in their own way. James – James was brilliant, truly gifted. Adam was a child prodigy. Hugo was the school’s athlete. Guy – Piggy – was a force of nature. And Salman – Salman was so touching, trying so hard to fit in, so determined, so much more English than the rest of us. And everyone loved Ned. Ned was good.’

‘Why did you throw the glass at his face?’

‘They were getting older. It was no longer enough to perform sexual acts on the Head Master in his study and then sit down for a chapter of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. They were curious, they were growing boys. Hugo and Guy had been caught in town with a couple of local girls. Women – grown women – went wild at the sight of James.’ He laughed. ‘And Piggy was masturbating himself into a coma every night.’ He chewed his bottom lip. ‘It was a world without women. So he told them that he would find them one. A woman. A girl. And let them see how little they were missing.’

‘What did your brother tell you about the girl?’

‘He told me she was being given as a special treat.’ A pause. ‘Which was the exact moment I threw the glass at Ned’s face. And after that, he told me nothing.’