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This is a tale told from the point of view of a young Jewish soldier, of the lowest possible rank, who was in a Japanese internment camp during World War Two. The camp was 22 miles up the Kuching River in Sarawak, Borneo. The incident I am going to describe happened sometime in mid 1943.

The camp held 1,800 soldiers of all ranks and nationalities, and about 500 civilians - men, women and children. The men had been planters, government officers, traders and priests of all denominations. The women's section held a large number of nuns and missionary sisters of various orders. In all Japanese POW camps, the food ration, no matter how small or meagre, was allocated to the numbers who were working. The sick did not receive a ration but shared in the general distribution.

Following a bout of fever, I was given a job in the hub of the camp, in the hut that served as the Japanese camp office, run now by three Japanese officers. My many friends went out to work every day in the extreme heat and glare of the sun - we were almost on the equator. Theirs was hard, punishing work on a starvation diet. My work in the sultry heat of the hut was recording for the Japanese the statistics of those who lived in our camp, and those who lived and died in other camps in Borneo. I spent a lot of time keeping Japanese Kempei officers busy in such a way that they did not make too many forays into various sub-camps - these forays were always accompanied by a frenzy of beatings.

One day, when the outside temperature had shot to well over 100°C and there was a quiet tension in the office, I was called over by one of the lieutenants who started a conversation to practise his English. We had started with Yiddish, which he thought was a Dutch dialect, but by this time my English accent was one he could understand. A Geordie or Scottish accent would have been much harder for him.

The conversation turned to religion - my bosses were Buddhist in their homes and Shinto in public. Of course I was expected to be the expert in the many sects of Christianity in the camp, from Seventh Day Adventists to Catholicism. These, to my bosses, were all part of the Western Judaic religion.

It was suffocatingly hot as we talked — I wore only the smallest loin cloth, and clogs made from pieces of floorboard. My bosses sat cross-legged on a chair. The conversation went on. A Church of England bishop, who had been interned with so many other priests and nuns, was at that moment in the guard room, having been caught smuggling food under his cassock into the "other ranks" sickbay. There was going to be a trial with maybe a beheading, or by great kindness just a beating and demotion to "mister".

In the days that followed we started to discuss the British Royal family and how many rooms there were in Buckingham Palace. I knew then, in 1943, exactly what every room looked like, although I was not to visit the Palace till 1994, 50 years later. I explained to my bosses that, in deep error and I was sure with now sincere contrition, the bishop must have thought it was his duty to preach to dying soldiers. Taking food into the sick was part of his duty as bishop, a rank given to him by the King, Emperor of Great Britain, and could only be taken away from him by the King, His Majesty himself.

A short while later, while bowing to the Japanese sentry outside the office, I saw the bishop talking away, back in the regular compound where the other male internees were being held. No further mention of the smuggling episode was ever made, but I always hoped that I had been of help in some way. However, being just a Signalman and not an officer, I was never told.

Epilogue: After the Liberation, Colonel Suga, who was in charge of all the camps in Borneo, committed hari kari. Lt Nekata and Lt Kuba, the chief inquisitors, were hung as war criminals. Of the third lieutenant I have no knowledge, but Col Suga's family were killed in Hiroshima and Lt Kuba's wife and 11 children were all killed by the atomic bomb in Nagasaki.

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