20 facts you didn’t know about Madiba

Nelson Mandela International Day is an annual event which celebrates the legacy and life of the late Nelson Mandela.

In the spirit of the day and 20 years of democracy, here are 20 things that you did not know about the late Nelson Mandela:
1. Ballroom dancing was among Mandela’s skills

2. Mandela was baptized a Methodist

3. He and his cousin ran away from home in 1941 to avoid arranged marriages

4. He received more than 695 awards, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize

5. He was a boxing fan

6. Mandela was recognized in the United States and Britain as being a terrorist and was only removed from the terror list in 2008 by U.S former president George Bush

7. During Mandela’s imprisonment, the apartheid government offered to release him on six earlier occasions but he rejected each time

8. Nelson Mandela has a prehistoric woodpecker (Australopicus nelsonmandelai) named after him

9. He is an honorary citizen of Canada

10. He is also an honorary member of Manchester United

11. Mandela’s favourite meals were farm chicken, tripe and sour milk

12. He established the first black South African law firm in 1985 though it took him years to get a law degree

13. Mandela appeared in the 1992 film Malcolm X

14. Mandela is the only person to ever receive both the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Soviet Order of Lenin and the Nobel Peace Prize

15. Mandela eyesight was permanently damaged from the glare of the sun while he did hard labour in prison

16. Mandela’s tribal nickname is “Rolihlahla,” meaning “troublemaker”

17. He was the first of his family to attend school

18. Mandela spent his first night after being freed from prison in Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s home

19. One of Nelson Mandela’s favourite songs is Johnny Clegg’s Asimbonanga

Nelson Mandela joins Johnny Clegg on stage as he opens his show with the classic Asimbonanga. View the video below.

20. He married Graca Machel on his 80th birthday

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