Nelson Mandela

I imagine he is being kept alive until his birthday.

Last I heard he was going to be allowed to go home to recuperate...

So what has happened to Nelson Mandela?

Sounds like the final phase of Mandela's life now with the news that he can no longer breathe on his own.

Just enjoyed them gk.
Will be downloading some of his music on my MP3 soon..........good dancing music.

I hope you found these, Butty:

Scatterlings of Africa www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkYbtDesLQ and "Impi", so stirring, which is about the Battle of Isandlwana: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTE04OAi_tg

Pity about poor quality audio. ..

Butty . I love his music. It is a bit like Gracelands in some parts. He has a gorgeous soft accent doesn't he?

gk Thanks for the introduction today of Johnny Clegg. I'd never heard of him before and have been enjoying a little wander around his music and dance on youtube. Reminds me of Paul Simon's Gracelands, which I played and played back in the day.....

when, I'm sure your're right about Brezhnev.

His lungs must have recovered fairly well for him to get to 94 though surely?

I even went on a boat to get there, quite something for me!

And Aka conditions were very much worse for the black prisoners than the white! We thought Robben Island would be very touristy and naff, it wasn't it was very moving.

aka, yes, indeed.

Conditions on Robben Island were horrendous, especially in the early days of apartheid. Prisoners were crammed into cells, often sixty in a cell designed for twenty. Food was basic, as was medical care. Forced labour, long hour in the sun, beatings from warders, 'intimate' searches, humiliation and worse. Exactly the kind of conditions where diseases such as TB flourish.

So I've been missing 'home' and consoling myself with listening to Johnny Clegg today, here's another one, seems apt, "Spirit of the Great Heart". www.youtube.com/watch?v=g48_fqX7KJc

Aka I did see it. . I'm looking forward to the film version of 'Long Walk to Freedom' with Idris Elba in the starring role.

TB is getting more common and apparently BCG vaccinations are not as effective as they thought.

Eloethan was it Brezhnev who turned out to be dead whilst they were still claiming he was alive and in a coma?

I'm sure you're right, Bags. You don't catch TB out of thin air, but it is extremely infectious person to person. I remember the 'spitting forbidden' signs in buses when I was young. This was a TB prevention measure. Our generation was so fortunate to be in at the beginning of mass BCG vaccination. Sorry - I digress!

Eloethan, I think both Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko were kept alive for political purposes. Their signatures were forged on documents by the politburo.

Yes, moved, I wasn't saying he didn't have a lung infection while on Robben Island, just querying whether living on Robben Island, whether imprisoned or not, would cause lung infections. Having TB while there might easily mean he had persistent lung problems for the rest of his life, but it's more likely he caught TB from other prisoners, I should have thought.
#scientific mind.
Perhaps galen will correct me when she returns

Thanks, anno. TB would do it.

Nelson Mandela had TB on Robben Island which left him with damaged lungs. www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jul/16/aids.nelsonmandela

Bags Nelson Mandela, and others, were made to do hard-labour in a limestone quarry and this was the cause of long-term lung problems.

or even Grannyknot !!