Peter Rhodes remembers a meeting in Jerusalem with a youngster hoping for a better life

At every turn a rug maker or fruit seller would offer his wares to me and my companion, an American journalist. We politely declined. But one resident, a bright lad aged about 12, would not be put off.

“You speak English, right?” he asked.

“I am English,” I replied.

With that he grabbed my arm and tugged me towards his family cafe where a couple of glasses of coffee suddenly appeared.

These were anxious times. In the streets outside, Palestinian rioters were marking the start of the first Intifada, their endless uprising against the Jewish state. I remember thinking as our coffees arrived: “Is this how a kidnapping begins?”

But the boy produced a school book, and all was suddenly clear. Struggling with the complexities of English, he wanted help with his homework, in particular how to conjugate the verb “to sneak.”

In his exercise book, presumably approved by the guerilla group the PLO, was a scene inside a prison. The boy's task was to write the missing word in the brackets of the sentence: “The brave prisoner ( ) past the sleeping guard.”

I explained that it depended on the tense. If this happened in the past tense, then the prisoner “sneaked” past the guard. If it was happening in the present tense, then he “sneaks” past. At which point my American friend chimed in.

“What about snuck?” she suggested in a New York drawl. I explained to the lad that “snuck” was a terrible Americanism, to be avoided at all costs. In the end, eyes shining with understanding, he settled on “sneaks.” One small diplomatic success for the UK, one little triumph for proper English.

This all happened three dozen Christmases ago but every year since then it has sneaked, snuck or sneaks into my memory and I remember an Arab boy working hard for a better future in a land where prisoners are the brave guys. I wonder what happened to him.

Have a very Merry Christmas.