You can scroll the shelf using ← and → keys
At the end of the sixties when I first became aware of Cassius Clay, I couldn’t stand him and always wanted his opponent to beat him. Nobody ever laid a glove on him because he was so fast. The first Parkinson interview in 1971 changed all that and from then on, like the rest of the planet, I regard him as simply the greatest athlete and personality that has ever lived.
Any other champion of the world would have been happy to prosper from his fame and fortune but that wasn’t enough for Ali. He changed his slave name and followed the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and became a leader for black rights in America.
Even winning the Olympic heavyweight gold medal in Rome was not enough for him to be able to eat downtown in his own city. He subsequently threw the medal away into the river in disgust. Ali also later refused to enlist into the army to fight in Vietnam and as a result was stripped of his title and banned from boxing for four years. That started his long journey back, losing to Norton on the way, before losing to Joe Frazer in probably the greatest fight that there has ever been. One billion people watched the fight including a 13 year-old in Felixstowe, England. I was heartbroken and I remember writing about the injustice of his story at school!
Ask any sportsman who was the greatest athlete/sporting icon of all time and there is no contest. His poetry, wit and character made him a hero on every continent. Charming and kind, a man for all seasons who fought injustice and for what was right in the world.
I recorded this Parkinson show on a reel to reel rape recorder; – yes before cassettes of any kind! I was so taken by this Atttica poem that I learnt it by heart and actually chose to perform it at a school Prose presentation. People after asked me why had I recited it whilst imitating Muhammad Ali’s voice to which I replied I hadn’t even known I had done so. I must have been so taken by his aura and the conviction for what he believed in, that I mimicked his delivery subconsciously. Tony Benn said that the four most influential people he’d ever known were all black. Freedom fighters all of them. Nelson Mandela, Ghandhi, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Paul Robeson. I’d like to add Muhammad Ali to that list. Not a learned man or a politician but remembered by everybody and not only by people of his colour. There must be some reason why 44 years later after learning this poem it still remains with me today. Simply the Greatest.
I overall love his humour, honesty and wonderful character which transcends race, colour and creed.
A Monkey in Manhattan 