by Emma Grove

It was third time unlucky for former Sheppey publican Jimmy Moore when he got caught up in Egypt’s revolution.

Mr Moore, former landlord of the Crown pub in Sheerness, was almost a week into a month-long trip when protesters began demonstrating as they called for President Hosni Mubarak to step down.

Mr Moore had gone on holiday to the Red Sea resort city of Hurghada and planned to spend the time relaxing and site-seeing.

It was not to be, though, as the protests broke out in Cairo and snowballed from there across the north African country.

Mr Moore said eventually it reached where he was staying, although there were no riots.

The 64-year-old said there were police armed with machine guns in the town and one evening looters came through to target shops before the army arrived.

He said: “I was safe but it just seemed to get worse

and worse. They cut all our communications off – I couldn’t phone home or use the internet.

“It was meltdown for about two weeks but although there was a curfew everywhere else, we could go out because the police fled so there was no one to enforce ”

It was not the first time Mr Moore had got caught up in a revolution.

During a five-week holiday to Honduras at the end of 2009, the president was overthrown.

Although he was not right where all the fighting was, he said again there were tanks and soldiers everywhere.

Back in 1971, he was serving in the Merchant Navy and docked in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) when the ship he was on was bombed.

In his younger days, Mr Moore was in the Army reserve at Sheerness when they were put on alert to possibly go to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), although the political problems were resolved before they were dispatched.

All was not lost on his most recent holiday though, as Mr Moore spent most of the time on the beach and snorkelling, although he didn’t get to see the pyramids and other sites he had hoped to.

He added: “It was an experience, again.

“My family always say 'here comes trouble’ and I couldn’t believe it when it happened this time. Everyone always asks where I’m going on holiday next year so they can stay away.”

Mr Moore, who now lives in Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain, with his partner Rita Wood, is heading back there for a couple of weeks before another trip to South America.