He was loved and admired the world over, profiled in books and movies, and showered with awards and accolades. But even the most public of personalities have little-known facts buried in their biographies.
Here are 10 surprising facts you
probably didn't know about Nelson Mandela:
2. He had a cameo in a
Spike Lee film: He had a big part in
Spike Lee's 1992 biopic "Malcolm X." At the very end of the movie, he plays
a teacher reciting Malcolm X's famous speech to a room full of Soweto school
kids. But the pacifist Mandela wouldn't say "by any means necessary." So Lee cut back to
footage of Malcolm X to close out the film.
3. There's a woodpecker
named after him: From Cape Town to California, streets named after
Mandela abound. But he's also been the subject of some
rather unusual tributes. Last year, scientists named a prehistoric
woodpecker after him: Australopicus nelsonmandelai. In 1973, the physics
institute at Leeds University named a nuclear particle the 'Mandela
particle.'
4. He married a first
lady: Before tying the knot with
Mandela on his 80th birthday, Graca Machel was married to Mozambique President
Samora Machel. Her marriage to Mandela after her husband's death means she has
been the first lady of two nations.
5. He was a master of
disguise: When Mandela was eluding authorities during his fight against
apartheid, he disguised himself in various ways, including as a chauffeur. The
press nicknamed him "the Black Pimpernel" because of his police evasion tactics.
"I became a creature of the night. I would keep to my hideout during the day,
and would emerge to do my work when it became dark," he says in his biography,
"Long Walk to Freedom."
6. A bloody sport
intrigued him: Besides politics, Mandela's other passion was boxing. "I
did not like the violence of boxing. I was more interested in the science of it
- how you move your body to protect yourself, how you use a plan to attack and
retreat, and how you pace yourself through a fight," he says in his
biography.
7.
His favorite dish is probably not
yours: He's been wined and dined by world leaders. But what Mandela loved
eating most was tripe. Yup, the stomach lining of farm animals.
8. He quit his day
job: He studied law at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg
and opened the nation's first black law firm in the city in 1952.
9. He was on the U.S.
terror watch list: Mandela wasn't removed from the U.S. terror
watch list until 2008 -- at age 89. He and other members of the African
National Congress were placed on it because of their militant fight against
apartheid.
10. He drew his
inspiration from a poem: While he was in prison, Mandela would read
William Ernest Henley's "Invictus" to fellow prisoners. The poem, about never
giving up, resonated with Mandela for its lines "I am the master of my fate. I
am the captain of my soul." You may know it from the movie by the same name
starring Morgan Freeman as Mandela.
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