In 1978 Niall McCathie was offered a job in Iran, so he packed up his wife Pippa and 13-month old son Jamie and moved there. Little did they realise that the writing was on the wall for the Shah, and that times were becoming difficult for westerners...

Niall (with scary beard), Pippa and James aged 18 months

Niall admits that he knew nothing at all of Iran before he went out there, though he thought that quite alot of people spoke French which he could speak, and that the urbane uppper-middle classes spoke English. Pippa didn't want to go at all. The thought of being on her own a good deal in a foreign country with an active 13-month old baby didn't appeal.

Niall remembers that walking along a shopping street in Tehran was like walking along a street in Paris, and people in general were very friendly. Niall became involved in amateur dramatics, but Pippa didn't enjoy life there at all. "I noticed the beginnings of the problems much earlier I think because I'm female. Going out alone was not very pleasant. It was okay if I had Jamie in his buggy, because they could see he was a male child and that meant my status was higher".

Towards the end of their stay things really did start to become difficult, Pippa remembers, and she received odd phonecalls and was grabbed on one occasion. She definitely sensed an atmosphere of disapproval, and was spat at on a couple of occasions. They became aware eventually of resistance to the Shah. There were a good deal of demonstrations, and postal workers and electricity workers went on strike, which obviously made things increasingly difficult for Pippa and Niall. Evenutally they started to hear gunfire in the streets.

Pippa began to become fearful that Niall would come home from work, particularly after the demonstrations and shooting had begun. "One night I could hear a demonstration outside the flat, and gunfire, and Niall wasn't home and was very late. There was no electricity and the phones weren't working properly, and the feeling of isolation then with a baby was pretty intense".

Niall became concerned too, particularly when he heard more about what was going on from friends and from the BBC World Service. The local American-run television network reported nothing of the problems - massacres and big demonstrations went unmentioned, though they knew by then what was going on. "Because I spoke French I got myself out of a couple of tight situations. And having a large ginger beard helps too! Apparently some group of Iranians up near the Russian border are known for their fecundity and virility and the sign of this is their ginger beard - and mine was big!".

Pippa used to try and keep in touch with people at home despite the phone problems, by sitting and dialling various numbers almost continuously, hoping to get through to one friend or family member who could phone others for her. Though Niall released that things were not likely to get better in the short-term he felt the decision to stay or go wasn't really in his hands. "I wasn't really master of my own destiny. I had a contract, we had things to do, limited finances. In fact we did, when it came up to the festival before Christmas when....things get extremely heated, very nasty, Pippa and James went home and I was there for the last month and a half on my own with the lights out, snow falling and limited supplies of beer!".

They tried to keep in touch as best they could, but Pippa admits that she was very glad to have left. At first she could only think of getting out with the baby, but when she got home to her parents in Guernsey she started to worry about whether Niall would get out too. He arrived home on Christmas Eve, planning to go back! It became apparent when the Shah was deposed and Iran in revolution, that there was no question of that.

Despite the difficulties, Niall remembers it as a very positive and valuable learning experience for him professionally. "I do appreciate what a bummer it was for Pippa!".