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

3. Mandela Declared During His Trial That He Was Prepared To Be Executed... And Ironically This Actually Saved His Life

When Mandela was stood in the dock during the Rivonia Trial at the Palace of Justice in the Pretoria Supreme Court in April 1964, he gave a compelling concluding statement:

"During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realised. "But, My Lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

This speech, somewhat ironically, actually helped to save Mandela's life - as the fact he had shown a willingness to be executed, possibly as a martyr, convinced the South African authorities that this was one course of action they could not countenance. Instead, Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment - and his words were immortalised and deemed to be one of the greatest speeches of the entire 20th Century. The last paragraph of his speech is now written on the wall of South Africa's Constitutional Court building in Johannesburg.