Nelson Mandela Freed – Where Were You?
I’ll never forget where I was the day Nelson Mandela was released exactly 20 years ago.
The Gatwick Park Hospital had just taken out my tonsils and I watched the TV coverage scoffing copious amounts of ice cream.
This is the cell he lived in for all those years. Twelve months ago we were in South Africa and went to Robben Island – off Cape Town – to see where he was incarcerated and hear sad, sad stories from former inmates.
It was a remarkably moving day.
This was the only view of civilization they had while locked away. A hazy view of a distant table mountain.
A boiling hot day, we heard how prisoners often spent hour upon hour working in direct sunlight, and went to the quarry where so many ended up with sight difficulties, due to solar reflection on the limestone rock.
The day he was released, Mike Tyson lost a big fight. He was knocked out by James "Buster" Douglas in the 10th round and lost his world heavyweight title.
The Sun celebrated both events with a photo of their respective reactions.
The headline?
“Down & Out!”
I was starting seventh form, in to the second or third week of school. I think getting extra furniture in to the common room ranked more highly in our consciousness than Nelson Mandela being freed, sadly, such were our priorities then.