Mr Spafford and the American Colony

	Out of tragedy came a marvellous hymn - and the white flat for a city's surrender

Jerusalem's modern hotels are constructed on the time-honoured shoe-box principle. The interiors may be well-appointed, with every modern luxury, but they are still shoe-boxes - tall boxes, wide boxes, boxes with acres of tinted glass, but concrete shoe-boxes for all that.

There is one, however, which stands out; a neat building of Jerusalem limestone, approached via a shady courtyard, it seems a most desireable guest house until you discover the price - but then, true luxury never did come cheap. Other hotels might be The Grand, The Magnificent, or even Excelsior, but this one is simply The American Colony, an odd name that begs for explanation.

The story of the wealthy businessman and the American Colony in Jerusalem is a tragic one and yet out of it came one of the most wonderful hymns I know. Watch this film and discover not only the story of the hymn, but also the explanation of why there is a used bed sheet in the Imperial War Museum in London.