History in the making - Nelson Mandela at Wembley stadium

[Christa]

This is a hand held recording I made at Nelson Mandela's Wembley Stadium appearance, London 1990, just after he was released from 27 years in jail. The transcript of the recording is below - the wild thing is it takes over 6 minutes to get through it. Nelson Mandela was on stage for all of the applause. He stood and smiled as 170,000 people in 'Special AKA' t'shirts screamed at him. Most people I know can't take a compliment let alone adulation. Nelson took it like autumn sun shine. The guy who introduces him is a little old anglican priest, Trevor Huddleston, who I imagine was also foreign to stadium rock environments.

Transcript:

Archbishop Trevor Huddleston
'Friends, comrades, it is now my great privelage and honour to invite Nelson Mandela to the microphone.'

(audience breaks into applause as Nelson walks on stage)

(over six minutes later) Nelson Mandela
'Master of Ceremonies.'


http://www.cowboybooks.com.au/html/NelsonatWembley.html

What a GREAT man he is.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Huddleston knew his way around big stages, rock and others, quite well

Archbishop Huddleston has been at the forefront of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain and internationally, especially since his return from Mauritius.

Highlights include:

* the mass protest against the visit of P W Botha to Britain in June 1984. On the eve of this meeting, Archbishop Huddleston led an AAM delegation to meet Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to protest at the visit;
* the 120,000 strong demonstration in London in November 1985 to protest at Britain's anti-sanctions stance at the Nassau Commonwealth Summit, which was also addressed by Oliver Tambo and Reverend Jesse Jackson;
* the Artists Against Apartheid and AAM march and festival on 28 June 1986 attended by 1/4 million and addressed by Trevor Huddleston and Thabo Mbeki in which many top rock stars performed. This took place the day following the European Community Summit in The Hague at which the British Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, again blocked EC sanctions;
* the "Nelson Mandela Freedom at 70" campaign in 1988 which was initiated by Archbishop Huddleston and included the Wembley Concert which was broadcast to an audience of one billion worldwide;
* the "Nelson Mandela Freedom March" from Glasgow to London; and a rally in Hyde Park of 200,000 plus, on the eve of Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday, which Archbishops Tutu and Huddleston addressed.
...
Archbishop Huddleston travelled extensively internationally in support of the anti-apartheid cause, meeting numerous world leaders;

* in 1982 Archbishop Huddleston addressed the United Nations General Assembly;
* in 1984 he toured the Frontline States of Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe and met with the leaders of these countries;
* in 1984 he returned to the United Nations to deliver a worldwide petition calling for the release of Nelson Mandela, and addressed the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid;
* in 1984 he also travelled to India, New Zealand and Australia, meeting with their respective Prime Ministers;
* and since then he visited the USA, Canada, the USSR, Bermuda, Austria, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Malaysia, Japan, Luxembourg and Zimbabwe, meeting Heads of State and senior government leaders.

http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/solidarity/huddlebiog.html

And not only that, he had a bit of a hand in music too:

Masekela sees his childhood as having a more prominent bearing on his direction, and reserves his praise for Trevor Huddleston, the local chaplain who first gave him the opportunity to learn the trumpet in his hometown of Witbank. "He wasn't a musician; he was just a person who tried to get people's dreams and aspirations and wishes to come true."

Masekela first picked up the trumpet aged 13, inspired by the Kirk Douglas film Young Man with a Horn. "I just saw the film and I loved it. It was about a man who always played the big solos and stood out in front of the band. He had wonderful friends and always got the girl, and the film had a lovely soundtrack. Huddleston had said to me, 'What do you really want to do?' I'd been a musician since I was five - I played the piano - but I wanted to play the trumpet so much, so I said, 'Well if you buy me a trumpet I won't bother anyone ever again'," he laughs. "So he did."

A committed anti-apartheid activist, Huddleston was responsible for starting the country's first ever youth orchestra, the Huddleston Brass Band, of which Masekela was a part. "He was hated by the South African government," he continues. "He convinced the Anglican diocese to close all the African missionary schools. So they closed them as recognition that Anglican education was inferior education for ethnic people, and for that he was deported. He then passed through America and told Louis Armstrong about the band, and that helped introduce us to the music community."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Music/Blowing-his-own-trumpet/2004/11/26/1101219731248.html?from=storyrhs