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It has just been announced that boxing legend Muhammad Ali died last Friday after being taken to hospital with respiratory problems. He was 74 and had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for a number of years. Who, of our generation, could forget his skill in the ring, his poetry delivered against his opponents and his catchphrases as well as his sense of humour. His famous saying, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" will live on well after him.
You're right dammit. Shows you how much I know about current affairs.
Why the hell has the Beeb shown it today?
Hangs head in shame..........
It's so easy to miss news items in our fast-moving world. Also as one gets older sometimes this does happen and it's happened to me on more than one occasion. Usually it's when a well-known celebrity has died and some time later I notice this for some reason but didn't at the time.
Instant thought is to question if it's an age-related problem or just missing something which is so easy to do. Usually I decide it's the latter which puts my mind at ease.
At least it was true news and not a fake death announcement, of which there have been a few!
It must have been the same news bulletin as the one where I thought they said Andrea Leadsom wasn't standing for the premiership!
You've only got to miss the first few words and you get the wrong end of the stick!
Telling Muhammad Ali's story in full: "What really struck me the most was how much humility he had"
Salon talks to Antoine Fuqua about the new doc "What's My Name" and how he sought to tell such a remarkable story
he most compelling documentaries about influential, illustrious icons whose achievements are widely known are the ones that reveal the person's humanity. And it's an important endeavor. The way society plucks and places certain people onto pedestals can be deeply dehumanizing — flattening their legacy in favor of a lore that features a neat order of events of perseverance and triumph, one that can be pitched to a mainstream audience. Most importantly, the fabric of the story must be one that isn't at all threatening to the status quo. We see this manipulation annually with the popular remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Something similar often happens with Muhammad Ali.
However, finally for Ali, there is a corrective. A forthcoming two-part documentary, "What's My Name | Muhammad Ali," directed by Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day," "Equalizer"), premiered at Tribeca Film Festival last weekend and will air on HBO May 14. The documentary, executive produced by LeBron James and made with permission from Ali's family, features stunning archival footage, some never seen before, of Ali laying bare his interiority, boxing for his life, and theorizing about power, inequality and the livelihoods and struggles of oppressed peoples.