18 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Nelson Mandela

7. He Wrote Some Memoirs While In His Cell During The 1970s And Hid The Papers In His Vegetable Garden... But They Were Discovered And He Was Punished

During the 1970s, while Mandela remained imprisoned on Robben Island in Table Bay, he began attempting to pen his memoirs on several sheets of small paper. Mandela would write down passages, wrap them up and place them in plastic containers before burying them in the vegetable garden that he kept in prison. His hope was that fellow inmate Mac Maharaj would be able to smuggle them out once his release date came up and then have them published. However, once the prison authorities began constructing a wall through the vegetable garden near Mandela's cell, the memoirs were discovered and the future President was punished - having all of his study privileges revoked.