Two correspondents who were working overnight in the Foreign Affairs Unit and for BBC News 24 were seconded, together with editors from Radio News bulletins and World Service Television. Sutcliffe insisted that the presenters, two each for radio and television, came from mainstream news, and not from the more controversial current affairs programmes such as Newsnight or the 5 Live chat shows. Luckily a long-serving presenter from the Today programme had just walked into the building. Radio Four’s morning bulletin newsreader was also there. The television presenters were taken from News 24 and World Service. Attempts were made to bring in a senior Nine O’Clock News presenter, but he did not arrive in time.
Sutcliffe was grateful for the BBC’s shambolic but effective policy of retaining experienced staff. The faces and voices assigned to break news in times of crisis were more or less interchangeable. Sutcliffe telephoned the News Editor, who was his direct deputy, and asked him to come into Television Centre because he was opening up Wood Norton.
The Home Office had explained that a Chinese nuclear strike on a civilian population centre in India could not be ruled out in the next twenty-four hours. It was hoped the conflict could be contained. But the Home Secretary thought Wood Norton should be made ready just in case Television Centre in Wood Lane and Bush House in the Aldwych had to be closed down.
The Wood Norton bunker was hewn into a hillside close to the manor house. It was built at the beginning of the Cold War in the 1950s, and while other Cold War facilities in Britain were mothballed or sold off the BBC retained its ultimate crisis headquarters. As broadcasting equipment modernized and BBC studios were re-equipped, so was Wood Norton. It had been installed with the latest BBC computer network and digital video and audio links. It had the ability to take satellite picture feeds from and conduct live interviews with anywhere in the world.
Sutcliffe’s core team was dropped off by coach at the manor house. Even though it was the middle of the night, there was still activity because the manor was hosting a special visit for fans of the radio serial The Archers, which was set in the area. The guests were breakfasting early to catch the Cotswold dawn. Sutcliffe led the team down a winding, woodland path. The massive metal door had already been opened by the caretaker, who had switched on the air conditioning and cleared away some of the mustiness. It reminded the older members of staff of the old Broadcasting House, drab but efficient, decorated with tough, institutional carpets and gloss grey paint on the walls.
The bunker was built on two floors, with a newsroom of about 180 square metres, off which ran two radio studios and one which had been converted to television. The camera backdrop was the BBC logo and the Union flag. Suggestions that there be a picture of the Houses of Parliament or another national symbol were rejected on the grounds that it might give a false impression. The BBC had to make it clear that it was not on the air from the banks of the River Thames. A second television studio had been set up in the newsroom itself, along the lines of the designs for News 24 and World at Television Centre.
On the lower level was a canteen, a dormitory which could sleep sixty staff, and at the far end a decontamination centre for those who might be affected by nuclear fallout. As they entered, each person was given an NBC suit, with syringes for the antidote to a chemical weapons attack, Fullers powder to decontaminate their own suit and a monitor to measure radio activity. For the first half-hour there was a cacophony of sound around the newsrooms as computer links were set up, the satellite desk was briefed, and the most senior correspondents in the field were told confidentially that they might suddenly be on air not to Television Centre, but to Wood Norton. The team had not been trained specifically for this situation, but once in, they settled down to their jobs as if they were back in London.
‘At 0700, we will begin running dummy programming alongside the output from London,’ Sutcliffe told the first bunker editorial meeting. ‘Television and radio will have one channel each, BBC 1 and Radio 4. We will package material here and until we actually take over the presenters will substitute reporters here for the lives they would do with correspondents in the field. If we suddenly have to stop transmissions from Television Centre, it is imperative that the switch is unflustered, calm and without panic. Those few seconds will do everything to guide the national mood. At some stage, if war does break out, the government may take over editorial control. It is written in the charter. It is the law. Don’t let’s have any complaints about it. We hope to get a relief team down within twenty-four hours. Until then, we’re on our own.’
The Situation Room, The White House, Washington, DC
‘Yes, Mr President, Jamie Song told me personally that they would see it through to the end, even if it meant the destruction of China,’ said Reece Overhalt on the secure line from the Embassy in Beijing. ‘He quoted from Mao about never being slaves again.’
‘Will President Tao take my call, for God’s sake?’
‘He’s not in control, sir. The military is running China for the foreseeable future. As a personal friend, Song has promised me unrestricted access to his office unless we actually get as far as breaking off relations. If you look at it as the spectrum of Chinese politics, Song is at one end, our end, Leung is at the other, and President Tao is somewhere in the middle. Tao is at least in the bunker and I suspect he is keeping in touch with Song. So use me as the conduit and I’m pretty sure Song will get the message through.’
‘Chinese missile launch,’ Tom Bloodworth spoke in a precise, and relaxed manner, like an airline pilot addressing passengers about the flight path. ‘Three missiles from separate launch sites in Xining area.’
‘The Chinese have launched,’ said Hastings to Overhalt. ‘A base at Xining.’
‘That’s the site suspected of being used for India,’ said Overhalt. ‘The DF-21 site.’
‘Second tranche launch,’ said Bloodworth. ‘Kunming area in Yunnan. Waiting for precise identification.’
No one spoke. They knew Bloodworth would have the details within seconds.
‘Chuxiong, as I thought. Brigade headquarters from Unit 80303. DF-21s again. The Chinese have five ballistic missiles in the air. Xining launch is flying at low trajectory, 95 miles. Chuxiong, waiting for reading. Seem to be heading for 220 miles altitude.’
‘Mr President,’ said Overhalt, ‘I’ll stay on the line.’
‘Less than four minutes to first impact,’ said Bloodworth. ‘Target area appears to be Tezu on the far eastern tip. This is a pre-emptive strike. Tezu was the base for the Indian missile launch which we stopped a few minutes ago.’
‘So you mean their satellites had the same real-time imagery?’ said Hastings.
‘And they’re going for Shillong. That’s the Eastern Command HQ. Tezu comes under it.’
‘They must have, sir. This is not a random action. Their missile sites are prepared and programmed to targets.’
‘With our damn stolen technology. Reece, you still there?’
‘Yes, Mr President.’
‘Stay on the line until we ascertain what they’re hitting and how hard. If it’s a conventional strike against an Indian missile base, it’ll be hard for us to complain. I don’t like it but it seems to me to be a legitimate act of war. What we’ll be needing from them, however, is a pledge that they will not go nuclear against India and that their missiles are not targeted against the United States.’