Category: World Service
Date: 14.12.2005
Printable version
Famous people have been telling the 91Èȱ¬ who, in history, they would like to ask a burning question, what that question would be and why they would like to ask it.
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The results will feature in 91Èȱ¬ World Service flagship news and current affairs programme The World Today daily from Sunday 18 December until Friday 30 December 2005.
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Producer Nina Robinson spoke to Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "It was a pleasure to sit down with him; his eyes were so kind and his voice soft. As he spoke to me about his burning question, there was a mischievous glint in his eye and he laughed throughout.
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"He imagined himself talking to fourth-century African Saint, Augustine of Hippo, about the current sexual dilemmas facing the Christian Church.
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"According to Desmond, Saint Augustine of Hippo was a man of massive intelligence, an African who did very many good things but had a negative attitude to the body, sex and sexual orientation."
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President Museveni of Uganda said he would seek answers from Church leaders during the period of African history dominated by slavery: "It is not one person but a group of people whom I would like to ask my question.
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"I would like to know what the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury were doing when the slave trade was going on in Africa. What were they saying - these people of God?"
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Senegalese singer and musician Baaba Maal surprised Nina by directing his question to Hitler.
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"I would like to ask Hitler, if he came come back to life now, would he be happy to see the world like it is? He taught people not to accept others - would he feel sorry or would he feel he had succeeded? I hope he would feel sorry."
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Nina's experience with the head of the Nation of Islam and United States civil rights campaigner Louis Farrakhan was one she would never forget.
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"I had to be careful when addressing him. I got told off for saying Louis Farrakhan when I should have addressed him is as the 'Honourable Minister'.
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"He arrived with his band of men in black and made what seemed to be a well-rehearsed speech saying he would ask God about the true meaning of life and death."
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Other people featured in the programme include the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez; the Vice President of the World Bank, Ian Johnson; the former spokesman for the United Nations mission in Iraq, Salim Lone; former UK Government minister, Tony Benn; the inventor of the oral contraceptive pill, Carl Cjerassi; British zoologist and anthropologist, Desmond Morris; the President of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvilli; former UN High Commissioner for human rights and former Irish president, Mary Robinson; war photographer, Don McCullen; Wimbledon tennis champion, Boris Becker; hiphop millionaire, Russell Simmons; the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and author, Thomas Friedman; the mother of the murdered black British teenager, Stephen Lawrence, Doreen Lawrence; the millionaire space tourist who paid 50 million dollars for his inter-galactic journey, Greg Olsen; Indian environmentalist, Valmik Thapar; one third of rap group Run DMC, Rev Run; Turkish novelist, Orham Pamuk; and Russian writer, Boris Akunin.
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Notes to Editors
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The World Today aims to provide listeners in Africa with news and analysis of what is happening in their region and across the globe.
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It is on air every weekday morning at 22.00, 01.30 and 05.30 GMT.
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World Service Publicity
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