Highlight of last week was hosting a lunch at the Town Hall for Archbishop Tutu.
My experience over the years is that many celebrities “in the flesh� are a disappointment. Not so for the Archbishop, if anything he was even more impressive.
The day started with a query as to whether we would see him at all as he was not well. He later informed me that he had recently had pneumonia and was suffering with a heavy cold or chest infection. He had cancelled his previous night’s appointments and also that morning’s dates. Thankfully he arrived. As he was struggling, we by-passed the drinks reception and went straight into the magnificent small ballroom for lunch with 30 guests. The Archbishop clearly was very impressed with the beauty of the Town Hall and said that this confirmed his impression of Liverpool buildings. Like so many outsiders he had no idea that Liverpool was a city which he described as “beautiful�.
I made a speech to welcome him and he made a witty speech in reply.
Despite his now advancing years you would describe him intellectually as “bright as a button�. I told him over lunch about my two daughters. At the evening lecture at the Metropolitan cathedral there was a drinks reception with about a hundred people milling around him wanting to be introduced to him. I caught his eye and introduced my two daughters. He had remembered everything I had mentioned and quizzed them both as to how they were getting on and as to their ambitions. My youngest, Georgina, looked quite taken aback as to how this famous person knew so much about her! He is clearly a class act.
Archbishop Tutu’s lecture at the cathedral was a pre amble to him opening the Desmond Tutu Centre for War and Peace studies at Liverpool Hope University which is dedicated to the study of peace, conflict and the space between war and peace.