This memoir traces the remarkable life of Manicasothy Saravanamuttu: cricket-loving student at Oxford during the Great War, fearless editor of Penang's English-language newspaper The Straits Echo, resilient internee during the Japanese Occupation, influential diplomat-at-large during the height of the Cold War, and trustworthy confidant to the great and the good. "Sara" as he was known to all, was a witness and participant in the making of modern Asia.