Waite in charity lock-up

Terry Waite will be spending one night in prison

Former Middle East hostage Terry Waite will be held captive for a charity prison lock-up in Birmingham.

The 64-year-old writer and broadcaster will spend 24 hours in a cell at HMP Birmingham to help raise funds for sick children.

Despite spending 1,760 days in a Beirut cell between 1987 and 1991, Mr Waite said he was "looking forward to the challenge."

"I think it will be a lot more comfortable than the kind of surroundings I had to put up with.

Awards ceremony

"After spending nearly five years sleeping on the floor and chained to a wall, one night in a bed in prison isn't going to be too bad."

Mr Waite was asked to take part in the lock-up by prison governor Mike Shann when they met at an awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Money raised from the event on 6 September will be donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Children's Hospital in Birmingham.

Mr Waite was trying to negotiate the release of Western prisoners in his capacity as a special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury when he was taken hostage himself in January 1987.

He was released in September 1991.