Former SAS man Col Jim Johnson dies

Colonel Jim Johnson (pictured), a colourful ex-SAS officer who ran small wars at a convenient arm's length distance from the Government, has died at the age of 83. In 1962, when Harold Macmillan's government was dithering about an Egyptian-inspired coup in Yemen, a former British colony, it was suggested that Johnson "put something together". He led a three-year guerilla campaign against the new regime there.

Johnson, son of a Ceylon tea planter, arrived in Yemen on a Canadian passport under the name of Cohen and with a pocketful of sovereigns, the Daily Telegraph reports in its obituary. On the journey, his party had to change planes in Libya when a suitcase broke open and rolls of plastic explosives rolled out. Johnson's "irregulars" explained that the substance was marzipan and the Libyans helped with the repacking. To pay for the trip, a cheque from pro-British Yemenis was reportedly paid through the bank account of the Hyde Park Hotel where Brian Franks, the SAS's commandant was chairman of the board.

An improbable contemporary of Tony Benn at Westminster School, Johnson was involved in the liberation of Europe when he and a brother officer found themselves on the steps of Cologne cathedral. As two armed Wehrmacht officers ran past, Johnson reached for his revolver, but his companion exclaimed: "No, Jim! Not from the cathedral."

Running his own private firm, and storing weapons of indeterminate origin at his home in Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, Johnson went on to help the fight against communists in Oman and trained the mujahideen to fight against the Russians in Afghanistan.

In the Yemen, many of his recruits were French and he had a battle with a member of the Saudi royal family for his men to get severance payments. He won the day by explaining: "French mercenaries have a habit of blowing up the aircraft of national airlines if they don't get paid properly."