In the spirit of speaker sharing, AWBS invites you for an outstanding speaker event with Terry Waite, introduced by AWBS member and historian Ann McCormack!

Tuesday, December 1st at 1pm - 2pm.   Register here...

Imagine being locked in a cell for more than 23 hours a day, lying on the floor, chained to the wall, with no books, paper or music. You are in solitary confinement, and see your captors for only a few minutes when they take you to the toilet – or to a torture cell to be beaten. One day the torture includes a mock execution. And this goes on for four interminable years.

Terry Waite was captured by the Islamist group Hezbollah in 1987 and spent five years as a captive – the first four in solitary confinement. Waite, now 80, was an advisor to the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. He had travelled to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, with the hope of negotiating the release of Western hostages held there. Instead, he was taken hostage, accused of being involved in arms deals, as the Iran-Contra affair blew up. After his release, he was elected a Fellow Commoner at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he wrote his first book, Taken on Trust, an account of his captivity.