Nelson Mandela and the Muswell Hill
Even should you think that after the recent death of Mandela I intend by hook or crook to connect him somehow to Muswell Hill - I can assure you that's not the case. Nelson Mandela really had to do with Muswell Hill and as the career of the Kinks this liaison started at the beginning of the 1960's.
At that time Mandela's close friend and confidant Tambo was send to Europe to find allies for the fight against apartheid and to mobilise those. And here in London at Muswell hill below the Alexandra Palace he then lived for 30 years before he returned to South Africa.
When Tambo came here he was general secretary of the ANC - African National Congress. 1967 he became the president. There are many people who say the anti-Apartheid movement started here in the North of London as Tambo didn't stay they only South African expatriate who settled here. The expatriates and the ANC members found a lot of adherents and a lot of support in the population and the very first meetings and rallies took place on Muswell Hill - actually in Alexandra Palace. Nelson Mandela visited his friend once at the beginning of his exile in 1962 and once again in 1990 after he was released from custody and Haringey organised a reception for him.
Tambo himself was an extraordinary character. He had early in his live realised that he could best help his cause would he have an academic education and - as non-white people were not allowed to study medicine in South Africa - had studied mathematics and physics. He was hold in high esteem by the population and is described as a thoughtful, wise and warm-hearted person. Mandela's release from custody he didn't survive for a long time. He returned to South Africa but died in 1993 following a stroke. The population of Muswell Hill erected in Albrecht Road Recreation Ground near the Alexandra Park School a memorial in his honour.
Mentioning the Alexandra Palace: that brings us of course back to darts. Tuesday evening began with a big upset: Beau Anderson - brother of nine-dart Kyle Anderson and debutant in the World Championship - eliminated Colin Lloyd. He showed an impressive performance and delighted the crowd in the not really full venue. After that nothing really thrilling happened - all the seeded players won their rather one-sided matches and progressed into second round.
Might be all the players felt as tired as I did on Wednesday because it was not really a gripping evening of darts - even the commentators had a problem to produce a little bit of excitement. All four seeded players progressed. The most remarkable of the otherwise slowly evening was that three dart players with the surname Smith stood at the Oche. I doubt that ever happened before in the history of the World Championship.
Well - and of course it was remarkable too that on Wednesday evening the rain finally had stopped.
