ALI

Muhammad Ali is 70 - and still the greatest. The 'Rumble in the Jungle', Ali's fight in 1974 against George Foreman is considered to be the most historic boxing match ever, and though I was only 7 at the time, and was probably in bed, I remember kids at school discussing it excitedly that week. Ali knopcked out Foreman in the 8th round to become World Champion. Boxers, like wrestlers, like Evel Knievel, and like footballers, were larger than life characters to us. If you haven't ever seen it, watch the documentary film "When We Were Kings" which conveys brilliantly the sense of occasion, history, heat, sweat and blood, dark forces, evil and triumph that took place in the then Zaire, now the Congo.

When I played guitar in a punk band some years later, we designed and made some tee shirts that featured a life size print of Ali's clenched fist. Our drummer and singer were from Holland, the bass player from Sweden, and me from London - so a bunch of disparate foreigners, but we had all grown up knowing about Ali, and he was a cool and inspirational figure to us.