An astonishing 700 people crowded into the Bonar Hall to hear Terry Waite deliver the University of Dundee's Margaret Harris Lecture on religion tonight (Tues) - requiring an extra sound system to relay the speech to the 200 outside the main auditorium.
Speaking on Survival in Solitude, Terry Waite kept the audience spellbound for one and a half hours with a gripping, moving, at times harrowing and inspiring account of his experiences as an ambassador of the church and a hostage which University Principal Sir Alan Langlands referred to in his introduction as "testing to the limits of human endurance".
Terry Waite told the assembly of his three self imposed rules on capture : "No self pity, no false sentimentality and no regrets." He went on "I told myself they can try to break my body and they can try to break my mind but they cannot claim my soul."
On occasion they tried - beatings,interrogation, torture and a mock execution were all used against him as well as perhaps the cruellest trick of all - a preparation for release that never materialised.
During his four and a half years of captivity - almost all in solitary confinement - he kept himself sane by dredging from his memory prayers, prose and poetry he had learned over the years. One of his greatest regrets was the lack of access to books. Towards the end of his captivity however a less hostile guard arranged to bring him something to read. Imagine his reaction to find that the first delivery consisted of Great Escapes and The Manual of Breastfeeding - "not even illustrated!"
His solution was to draw a penguin and hand it to the non-English speaking guard. It worked. The next book to arrive was a Laurie Lee.
In giving the vote of thanks University Chaplain Fiona Douglas referred to Waite as living proof of "the indestructable nature of the human spirit".
Tonight's lecture was an extraordinary and inspiring occasion, and one which captivated every member of the record audience.