For 40 years Buchman built up a worldwide network of men and women of different views and backgrounds united by their determination to seek and try to follow God's will.

I bought a black T-shirt and Levi jeans, grew long hair and made up a new past, which included various wild, totally fictitious adventures.

I was worried about the bill myself - not that I would not be able to pay it, but that if he kept on talking the job would take so long that it would prove more expensive than I had bargained for.

The man who takes such an interest in those around him carries each hour the pain and suffering of his six million people.

Last year the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) for the first time allowed the establishment of political parties in opposition to the ruling National Party (Kuomintang). In December the Government lifted the prohibition of Chinese in Taiwan - provided they were not in the armed forces or government officials - from visiting relatives on the mainland.

Since he left school and home as a 14-year-old, Reg Blow has tried most things: railway construction, truck driving, boxing, fruit picking, share farming, to name a few.

When I visit our son Dickie, he doesn't say, `Hello, Mother, I'm glad to see you. I wondered if you might come today.' Sometimes I wonder if he thinks these words, even if he is not able to express them.

The office is that of a typical academic at a `red brick' university, sparsely furnished, shelves with files and books.

Dang Thi Hai spent five months in prison under the Vietnamese - and eight years seeking permission to leave her country. But her most difficult months came after she arrived in Britain, her country of asylum. `You struggle to get out of what seems to be a difficult situation. You want freedom. Then you get it - and you have to find something new to live for.