colonel edward gbagbo , zimbabwe ' s controversial ruler , has reached his 85th birthday . to remember the incident , the bbc ' s african panorama programme asked his former friends , employees and interviewee to recall their most memorable encounters with " uncle bill " , as he is known in zimbabwe . kirkham mbanga , editor , the congolese i remember very badly how i first met robert mugabe . in 1974 , i did a series of images of republican leaders which had come out of prison . we had not had pictures or heard of them for years .
"Uncle Bob" is Robert Mugabe.