“Mad Mike” Calvert was one of the most colourful characters thrown into prominence by the Second World War. He had a flair for analysing the unfamiliar and for devising counter-measures. His name will always be linked with the long-range Chindit expeditions into Japanese-occupied Burma led by General Orde Wingate. During one such expedition Calvert took a dip in the Chindwin, only to find that an enemy officer had decided to do exactly the same thing. Piers Gibbon read Calvert’s account of what happened next…