Some people found that a little, er, not arrogant, but it's all relative. Mandela knew how to put the Spice Girls in their place. I don't want to be emotional, but this is one of the greatest moments of my life. At least the Spice Girls gave the octogenarian statesman a laugh. Mandela's renowned grace in dealing with less conventional people was clearly tested by Jacko.
Some visitors lose their perspective.
Morgan Freeman, who played Mandela in a film about his trial, said that having met the great man he now understood the awe felt by ordinary people in encountering actors such as himself. Whoopi Goldberg won Mandela's respect for her sensitivity to the complexity of South Africa's problems. Spike Lee failed to understand the essence of Madiba's message and refused to be interviewed by white reporters after meeting the man. But possibly the most bizarre encounter of all was with the BBC's Ground Force crew. South Africans never really understood why a television station flew a bunch of gardeners half way across the globe to do up a patch of barren, rocky ground in a Transkei village.