Terry Waite on the Beirut & Back - Challenge For All virtual event

Virgin Radio

25 Aug 2021, 10:08

Former Beirut hostage Terry Waite joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about a virtual fundraising event for Hostage International, the organisation he founded, to mark the 30th anniversary of his release from captivity.

Terry was the Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, in the 1980s. He travelled to Lebanon to try to help secure the release of hostages, including the journalist John McCarthy. He was, however, himself kidnapped by Islamic jihadists in Beirut and held captive from 1987 to 1991. He told Chris, “It’s hard to believe it’s 30 years ago. But, of course, the memories, they never leave you.” 

Terry, who had previously negotiated for the release of hostages with the likes of Idi Amin in Uganda and Colonel Gaddafi in Libya, explained his involvement in trying to help secure the release of hostages in Beirut. “I went out there, I was able to meet with the kidnappers under very difficult circumstances and was able to, at least, assist in the release of a couple of the people, but then because of political machinations, I was taken hostage,” he said. “They lost trust in me, and they took me and kept me captive, first of all in an underground prison, deep beneath ground, then later on in bombed out buildings in different parts of Beirut.”

Talking about his captivity, Terry said: “People say, ‘He was chained to a radiator’. Well, in fact, staples were chained to the wall and I was chained to them, and I got released from those for a few minutes each day to go to the bathroom, and then back into this dark room. So it was a reasonable endurance test.” 

Terry was released on November 18, 1991 after 1,763 days, the first four years of which were spent in solitary confinement. Of his solitude, he said: “I was next door, at one point, to John McCarthy and others, and we used to communicate with each other by tapping on the wall, tapping in code. I used to tap my name out, in that long laborious code: 1 for A, 2 for B, 3 for C. It’s then you regret your name is Terry Waite, I can tell you, because it’s a long way down the alphabet! 

“And you can imagine the delight I got when, after doing that for about two years, at night, I got the taps back, and then was able at least to have some communication with another human-being.”

Terry is the founder of Hostage International, which provides free support to the family and friends of those taken hostage and people released from captivity. He explained: “I got that going a number of years ago to give support to hostage families and returning hostages. [It’s a] totally free service. And now we’re working right across the UK, and Canada, America, Australia, New Zealand. We’re entirely dependent upon people supporting us.”

To mark 30 years since Terry’s release, Hostage International is running the Beirut & Back - Challenge For All, which asks people to use any human-powered means possible to contribute towards covering 5,700 miles – the distance from Terry’s home (Hartest in Suffolk) to Beirut and back. It takes place from Saturday 4th to Sunday 12th September, 2021. Terry told Chris, “It’s 30 years ago now since I was captured, and Hostage International are running an event called Beirut & Back. It’s important to get the ‘Back’ in, you don’t want people to get stuck in Beirut!”

The 82-year-old added, “You can sign up to add up miles by walking, running, swimming, whatever, to make the total, collectively, of 5,700 miles. We’d really like people to sign up for that, to support us, and more particularly to support those who really do need help. So, really, this is an appeal to people. If you can join us, we’d be really grateful. Become a member of our family.”

When discussing with Chris about developing a mindset for survival, Terry said: “What you have to do is maintain hope, keep hope alive. I used to sit in this dark place. Shutters were put in front of the windows so that no natural light came into the room. So, often I didn’t know what time it was, apart from the fact that, early morning when the sun rose, there was a small crack in the shutters, and I could see the light coming in. And I used to sit there and say to myself, ‘Always remember, you know, light is stronger than darkness. Keep hope alive.’

“And that’s the key to it. That’s the key to anybody now who is feeling low and who has had a hard time as a result of Covid, or what have you. Somehow, keep hope alive.”

Find out more about Beirut & Back - Challenge For All and sign up at hostageinternational.org

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.