Growing up in the 80s meant living in fear of the bomb – now, thanks to Putin, so are today’s teens | Adrian Chiles

The threat of Armageddon was always in the background - but now young people have to deal with the pandemic and climate crisis too

Two people come to mind when I recall my teenage anxieties about being blown to kingdom come in a nuclear war. One is an ancient American farmer; the other is my chemistry teacher, Mr Fenwick.

I was in the upper sixth and we were both in the school production of Cabaret. I was hopeless as the leading man; Mr Fenwick was brilliant as the MC, a role for which he wore tights. Honestly, the 80s - what were we like? I digress. After rehearsals I'd give him a lift to Stourbridge Junction train station, and we'd have a pint in the pub across the road. One time we somehow got on to his childhood memories of the Cuban missile crisis. I remember thinking, Fucking hell, we're all going to die,'" he said with feeling. This was the first and only time in my school years I heard a teacher use the F-word. He conveyed brilliantly the visceral fear he'd felt more than 20 years earlier; for a fleeting moment he was back there and he'd taken me with him.