ROY Smith-Jaynes WAS Armageddon. It was his finger on the trigger fitted into the fire control systems of a missile submarine which would have unleashed the awesome power of nuclear retaliation.

Those who hold such power should, by rights, wear the drawn and burdened expressions of men who, quite literally, hold the world in the palm of their hands.

Roy Smith-Jaynes' face is round and his eyes twinkle as he talks about his life in a soft South Wales lilt.

Only several days out of the Royal Navy, where he attained the rank of Commander - the equivalent of Lieutenant-Colonel, and he has now embarked upon life as an art student at the University of Wales College, Newport.

In the casual and colourful world of art students, being neatly dressed, with shining black shoes, neatly pressed trousers and not a hair out of place is a pretty wacky way to come across. Also, the fact that he is 55 years of age makes him a little more than twice the average age of his collegiates.

He says: "Art has always been an interest. When I was a nipper I won a shilling at school for doing the best drawing of Santa Claus.

"My dad, who worked on the railways, wanted me to go to university, but my heart was set on joining the navy. I was at that age when you do the direct opposite of what your parents want.

"When he relented and said I should go for a commission, I said I wanted to join the lower deck. After my basic training my first ship was the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, which carried Buccaneer bombers.

"The furthest I'd ever been from home before was Portsmouth, when I went to join the navy. With Hermes, I saw Africa and the Middle East and shared the excitement of being on a carrier. I drank in the experiences."

His training complete, he joined the submarine service as a petty officer, and later a chief petty officer maintaining boats' sonar systems. "My first ship was HMS Repulse, on which I did 11 patrols, each one averaging about two months. This gives you a lot of time to do other things. I ran the ship's magazine and spent a lot of time doing little thumbnail sketches for publication.

"At the age of 24 I was commissioned almost by accident - I sort of volunteered." It was with an officer cadet's training that Roy Smith-Jaynes sailed into new, and chilling waters.

"There was a period of intensive training, and suddenly, there I was, sitting there with the nuclear trigger in my hand.

"The trigger itself is a pistol grip with a switch. When it, and the other switches in the hands of other officers are fired, the missile is sent on its way.

"It is impossible to sit there with all this destruction at your fingertips and not think ...'What if I did do it? What might be the repercussions if I don't?' It is an extremely sobering experience, and you grow up quite a lot. It is something that remains with you."

A serious illness effectively terminated his naval career which, in any case, via his promotion to commander, had taken him as far as a man rising through the ranks can go.

"I was surfing the Internet, looking at possible careers. I'd thought of senior management but frankly, I didn't need it. Then something came onto the screen about the local university and the arts course.

"It's very different from the navy, but I was always one for trying new things."

In the short time that he has been a part of the arts faculty, Roy has built an interactive figure of Hector, the Greek hero, and built his own model universe.

"Sorry, Roy. Would you mind running that one past me again?" I ask.

He invites me to enter a booth with a trapdoor in the roof. I put my head through the trapdoor, and there I am, at the centre of a shimmering vista of stars.

The man who once had it within his power to destroy nations now creates, gloriously and effusively, his own cosmos.

* Pictured, Roy Smith-Jaynes is enjoying life at art college