We bring you some important, and some less important (but no less engaging) Madiba-related Youtube clips, including the one in which that wise old owl George ‘Dubya’ Bush pronounces our former president dead. It won’t shock you to hear that Bush hadn’t quite done his homework on that occasion.

In Hiding

A 43-year-old Nelson Mandela gives his first ever TV interview to Britain’s ITN Network on 21 May 1961 in which he spells out the intentions of the ANC. At the time, Mandela was wanted by the South African Government.

Two years later he was pleading his case before the court in the famous Rivonia trial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPofm50MHW8

Free at last

Despite his heroic representation in the trial, Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1963. He was released 27 years later. This was his first speech on his first day as a free man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s8xkjG8bx4

Mr. President

Four years later, after a landslide victory in the 1994 elections, Mandela was inaugurated as the first black president of South Africa on the steps of the Union Building in Pretoria. The broadcast was beamed the world over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5LcxkNpkns&feature=related

“Mandela is Dead”

The media was sent into a flutter in September 2007 when George Bush, true to form, delivered what must rank as one of his most staggering gaffes by pronouncing Mandela dead in an address to media at the White House.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1KGwQ1O88Y

Not Impressed

As well as being one of the world’s most revered leaders, Mandela is a favourite among impressionists, most of whom just sound like they’ve got a bubble in their throat. Like this guy. Also note his white dog’s “spot on” impression of, er, a white dog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO7XfQ-jKOg