To gain access to the prison cell we called by the local police station and picked the key up. It is thought that the poor British prisoner, Private J Brill of The RASC , who was held there during WW2, had decorated the walls of his cell, to stop himself going mad, with a series of murals drawn with boot polish and charcoal. The murals seem to depict his memories of civilized life: men in top hats, Covent garden opera, pretty dancing girls, The Times, sheaves of music, London Boxers,Big Ben, etc.Some people think the murals were done whilst Private J Brill was in hiding from the Germans. However I am sad to say he was probably later killed. Although at one time the whole cell was decorated only about three-square meters now survive parts of which are pictured on this page. Details show ballerinas, a boxer, tables laid out with food, books, naked women, a man looking through a window in a wall, faces, hands, an orchestra conductor and some sinister skull like creatures. The images are stylized with some looking as though influenced by Picasso and others have an Art Deco realist feel to them. Some seem to be influenced by the surrealist movement. The is also a hint of 1930s Berlin. There are pictures within pictures. The table for instance is supported by books. The Books are a set Of Dickens Novels.

Due to Eid  there were no eating-places open but I heard there was an eating place just out of  Al Bidri on the way to Egypt. We ate cheese triangles, bread, honey and sweet apples, unsatisfactory I know but it was either that or starve.

We then returned to Tobruk to look for Rommel's bunker, which we found with surprising ease given the problems we had with our last attempt.