I flew to Rome and landed among pints of stout at O'Mahoney's Bar, along with a posse of British tourists.

Jamie, a Scotsman resplendent in a kilt, beamed with delight when the band played Whisky in the Jar.

But a stern-faced man of Kent commented, 'The Irish didn't help us in the war,' and the landlord looked furious.

Then a white-haired Italian stood by a fading photograph, featuring a grinning Vatican cleric.

The bar-room noise faded, as the old Roman pronounced, 'O'Flaherty, O'Flaherty, you were a bloody odd Monsignor.

'Cloaked in scarlet, you administered Vatican law, but at night you wandered Roman alleyways, sheltering partisans, Jews and escaped prisoners of war.

'Possessed of a neat right hook, your array of disguises suited every occasion, confounding the Gestapo, why, you once walked past your pursuers dressed as a coal man.

"Even that Cockney scrounger John May said you were bloody good in a fight.

'But years later you blushed live on television, during the TV series This is your life, when you were described as The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican.'

'Oh, O'Flaherty, come back to me, so I can thank you for saving my children.'

But the man in the picture again rose up, saying, 'Look here Luigi, you old soak, I was not the only one who helped run The Vatican Escape Line.

'By the way, I'm from the Kingdom of Kerry, and that Hollywood star made me sound like a native of Sligo.

'Besides, he was older than me by a country mile.'

But Luigi looked up, 'You mean Senor Gregory Peck?

'I met him during the filming of the Scarlet and the Black, that filmic homage to you and your heroic band.

'As he said, fact is stranger than fiction.'

Then the Scotsman danced a jig, and declared, "Aye, the Monsignor helped my granddad, who skipped from a prison camp in 1944, and was advised to seek out the 'Paddy priest in Rome.

"He did and was safe amidst the Papal cloisters by nightfall.

'He was supplied with copious glasses of vino, but he secretly longed for a pint of heavy - that's beer talk you know.'

The pub was hushed, and an audible gasp was heard when the face in the photo again spoke.

'Give my regards to your father, Jamie.'

'I'm afraid he's passed on, Monsignor but he'll join you for a game of golf in Heaven.'

As a kid he told me how you golfed with Mussolini's son-in-law, while hiding your distaste of fascism.'

Then heads turned as the man of Kent asked, "Is this some sort of trick?'

The landlord leaned over the bar and asked, 'Do I get the impression you are anti-Catholic?'

'Too right, at school I was forced to read the catechism.'

'Oh, you have my sympathy,' said O'Flaherty, peering from his faded photographic image.

'Here, have a drink,' and he poured him a pint of stout.

When the Kentish man returned to his home town of Dover, he was often seen on the white cliffs welcoming those fleeing war and famine.

The locals were amazed when this proud man cut all ties with the newly-formed British-Only Party.

When asked why, all he would say was.' Go to O'Mahoney's Bar in Rome and ask for Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty.'

The reporter asked, 'Who's he?'

'Why, he was the Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican.'