Sir Terry Waite in Napier: Life during, after his five years as Beirut hostage

Englishman Sir Terry Waite was held hostage in Lebanon for nearly five years from 1987-91, where he spoke to no one except his interrogators. During a visit to a Napier retirement village the 85-year-old spoke to Mark Story about his connections to Hawke’s Bay, how his detainment shaped him - and why he doesn’t regret it.

What brought you to Napier’s Princess Alexandra Retirement Village?

One of the residents here asked if I could come and do a talk, then the staff invited me so here I am.

We’ve been coming to New Zealand for many years now and almost always we stay in the Hawke’s Bay area as we’ve formed friendships with so many people here.

I always say to people do something in the area of influence that you have, within your own circle. If everybody did that we’d have a change in the world. That’s why I’m here [retirement village] as it may give people a little bit of cheer, a bit of hope.

You’re typically mentioned alongside the epithet “the world’s most famous hostage”. Does this bug you – and is it accurate?

It doesn’t bug me. If that’s what your label is then you may as well live with it. It’s accurate in so far as I’m constantly referred to as that, so in that respect it’s probably true.

I suspect much of the interest in your ordeal is people’s own curiosity in how they themselves would react, or cope, if placed in the same situation.

Yes, and I often wonder myself how I managed.

I was kept in a room, often underground, chained to the wall for 23 hours 50 minutes a day, slept on the floor, had no natural light, no books and when anyone came into the room I was blindfolded, so it was strictly solitary. I was also tortured and had a mock execution.

I suppose partly if you had a reasonable background and hadn’t suffered previously from mental problems, then that helps, but what you have to do is learn to live for the moment, say to yourself ‘I’m alive, I still have life’, and find within yourself, hope. If you have no stimulation from books or people, do it from memory.

I wrote my first book in my head in this time. Luckily I’d been a big reader as a young boy so could fall back on experiences from my past.

Humanitarian and former hostage Sir Terry Waite says his ordeal no longer has power over him. Photo / Paul Taylor

Nelson Mandela drew on the poem Invictus to sustain hope while he was imprisoned. Did you have your own Invictus?

Not really. Though I do remember reciting John Keats’ poem A thing of beauty is a joy forever, its loveliness increases, it will never pass into nothingness.

There were also parts of Shakespeare, so it was a combination of things.

What’s the one food item you missed the most?

Strangely enough I didn’t, I really didn’t miss anything. I just thought well, I have to get on with it and take what I’m given. Lots of people ask me that question and it’s the one that I can never answer.

Once, on Christmas Day - I only knew it was Christmas Day because a lazy guard was on and he told me - my special lunch that day was a cold tomato and a boiled egg. I thought, consider yourself lucky as there are people in the world who don’t have that.

How did it change you?

I would never want to go through it again, who would, but looking back, in a strange sort of way, I don’t regret it.

Before captivity, I’d had sympathy for the outcast you know, the sick, elderly, homeless or prisoners, and I’d worked with such people. I always had sympathy for them, but coming out, sympathy became empathy.

Work-wise, I haven’t had a salary for 30 years. My job was left open for me, but I didn’t take it. My captivity did make me focus and want to work specifically with the disadvantaged - but I was determined not to make any money off it, too many people these days are making money off charities. I have a wife and four children so I needed something, so, I earned money by writing books and lecturing.

But essentially if I’d never had the experience of captivity I’d never have had the courage to do this.

The iconic 1991 photo of hostage Terry Waite arriving home in England after five years detained in Lebanon. Photo / AP

I’m fascinated by the ease with which you speak of your ordeal.

As I said, I don’t regret it - life’s been much fuller and much richer because of this experience; it’s lost its power over me.

When disaster strikes everybody suffers in some way, but suffering needn’t destroy. Out of suffering come seeds of something new, creative.

I did this with five years in solitary, with no dialogue with anyone, except for those interrogating me. They assumed incorrectly I was a US spy. If I had’ve been I wouldn’t be here today.

The current Gaza conflict shows hostage-taking is alive and well. Do you despair at that?

It was inevitable that it was heading towards greater conflict. So it doesn’t surprise me.

I’ve worked for a long time in both Gaza and Israel. What it reflects in that part of the world is failure. Failure by leadership in Israel, their contain and control policy has clearly failed. Failure by leadership in Palestine to go for warfare rather than negotiation and failure by the international community to be more proactive in seeking a solution.

And as always, it’s the innocent people, innocent women and children, who suffer.

The effect this has on the many young victims comes in the next generation, creating bitterness. Sadly, the UN is virtually toothless.

Given the experience, and your second chance at life, does Terry Waite still sweat the small stuff?

Haha, yes, I do, it’s a human trait … and I’m afraid I’m still human.

- Mark Story is deputy editor of Hawke’s Bay Today and lives in Napier. He has more than a decade of experience in regional newsrooms with a background in court reporting.