Nelson Mandela RIP

It had been coming... Well, what a life. Good, bad, certainly full (though one could argue whether  27 years in prison could ever be 'full' - except in thinking time); a terrorist, a saint, an all-round icon. Like many, I read The Long Road to Freedom, still have the Special AKA single at home, and well remember a visit he made to Brixton in 1996 where I was living at the time. Somehow I received an invitation to a speech he was giving in the sports centre. It was like a carnival or gospel convention. He had a kind, quiet voice, a bit like Kofi Annan's. It's funny how we're conditioned to think that speeches should be loud and dramatic. His was the opposite, but just as impactful.