Eisteddfod president Terry Waite speaks about lockdown and his own captivity

* Eisteddfod president Terry Waite was interviewed on Sky TV.

Terry Waite, who is the much-respected president of Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, has been speaking about what the coronavirus crisis means for himself and the rest of the country.

And the 80-year-old former church envoy had some tips on how to make it successfully through lockdown.

Mr Waite, who won’t now be making his usual appearance in town after social distancing rules led to the postponement of this year’s eisteddfod in July, was being interviewed for Sky TV from his home in rural Suffolk where has seen in self isolation.

He first explained how he spent around five years in captivity in war-torn Beirut after himself being taken prisoner by extremists while he was interceding on behalf of hostages in 1987.

He told the interviewer how he was first held in an underground cell and later a bombed-out building, often chained to a radiator for over 22 hours a day without human company or contact with the outside world.

He said: “Many people at the present time must also be deeply worried, about their jobs, their future and their family.

“I was worried about my family, my own situation and if I would live and had to come to terms with these extreme feelings.

“The way to do this was to try and live for the moment, to try to make the most of living as fully as possible. That was my way of surviving.

“It’s about adjusting to the situation we find ourselves in and for the majority of us it will be fine.”

During lockdown he said it was also important for people to keep their dignity and self-respect.

Telling a story about how at the end of each day in his captivity he would take off his trousers, carefully fold them and then put them under his bed to press them, he said: “Don’t just sit around all day in your dressing gown or pyjamas.

“Form a structure for the day. At the moment I’m using my time to write another book.”

Asked what society would learn about the coronavirus crisis, he said: “A situation like often brings out the best in people and I hope it will bring a new sense of community and society when we’ve been through all this.”

* To see he full interview, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM9ciXrjP-4