Economist obit

[Adam Roberts]

Here's an obit for Heidi in the Economist

http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2012/08/obituary

best,

Adam

Adam Roberts
South Asia Bureau Chief
The Economist

+91-11-41027759

www.economist.com
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[Richard L Klein]

Thanks

Sent from my iPhone

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[diana lucas]

Heidi would be so pleased , lovely piece.
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!

-----Original Message-----
From: Adam Roberts <AdamR...@economist.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2012 02:59:47
To: <heidi-holl...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Economist obit

Here's an obit for Heidi in the Economist

http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2012/08/obituary

best,

Adam

Adam Roberts
South Asia Bureau Chief
The Economist

+91-11-41027759

www.economist.com <http://www.economist.com>

[Richard Dowden]

Dear everyone

I dont know how to do an audio clip and am unlikely to learn before 9 a.m.
so here is what I wrote:

Heidi Holland

"What's up doll?" Your daily search for news and gossip asked with that
mischievous grin and laughing eyes was irresistible. Like most people who
met you, I had already read your stuff and heard so much about you. Like
everyone who met you I felt I had met a new best friend. But your
extraordinary ability to collect friends and contacts made us all your best
friends.
The Melville House was a sort of club, its guests, your friends, trusted and
linked in to your extraordinary network of journalists, academics,
researchers, business people, diplomats and, almost certainly, spies. I can
remember you at an early morning breakfast (after a late wine-inspired
evening) introducing me to your old friend Dennis Brutus. There was always
someone interesting or well-known to talk to. I sometimes wondered if
Mandela - who looked down on the dining room from a photograph of you giving
him your book - would casually appear in his slippers and ask Regina for the
full English Breakfast.
I am sure many important appointments were cancelled or missed because of
those conversations which you often instigated with a casual, simple, direct
question. They were far more interesting, often the most valuable moments of
a visit to southern Africa. Yes I know the terrible secret too - not all the
guests were able to stay all the days they had booked. To you being
unsociable or a bore was a crime. Bores were quietly evicted, suddenly told
that there had been a double booking. "So sorry. Byeee".
Had you just been queen of Melville, that would have been a full life but
that was just the early mornings and late nights. Your days were for writing
and researching, often travelling long distances to interview and
investigate, getting people from all sorts of backgrounds to tell you their
story. But once you had met someone they were trapped. Did anyone ever turn
you down for a meeting or an interview? I remember being in Harare with you
when you decided to find and talk to everyone important who had ever met
Mugabe. And of course you had to get then interview with Mugabe himself. How
many trips did you make? How many hours did you sit waiting? But you never
gave up. And that book was your best.
You turned these conversations - conversation was your interviewing
technique - into good reads, simple narratives, not pretentious prose. I
have them all on my shelf at home.
Then there was Heidi the shrewd property developer, inheriting or buying
flats and houses. Good choices but what for? It was a sort of game,
fascinating and fun, driven by the gamble and the pleasure of collection,
not for greed or profit.
Friend, hostess, writer, editor, business woman, seeker - any of these would
have been more than enough for one life but you combined them all. And at
the core of everything was your love and concern for Jonah and Nicky. What a
bright, full, glorious life you led. So what did we fail to see? You have
left us bewildered with one unanswerable and overwhelming question.
Richard Dowden

[Niko Patrikios]

Beautiful! Thanks Richard!!

Niko Patrikios
00447799313365
0027828504568

--

[Jonah Hull]

Hi Richard, did you get the note about Heidi's memorial on Dec 11th? Rgds, Jonah


Jonah Hull
Correspondent - London
Al Jazeera English
+442072012800 (office)
+447918737670 (mobile)
________________________________________
From: heidi-holl...@googlegroups.com [heidi-holl...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Richard Dowden [richard...@googlemail.com]
Sent: 17 August 2012 10:12
To: heidi-holl...@googlegroups.com; 'Adam Roberts '
Subject: Heidi tribute

--



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[Jonah Hull]

Oops, apologies for sending that on the group email....

J.

Jonah Hull
Correspondent - London
Al Jazeera English
+442072012800 (office)
+447918737670 (mobile)
________________________________________
From: heidi-holl...@googlegroups.com [heidi-holl...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Richard Dowden [richard...@googlemail.com]
Sent: 17 August 2012 10:12
To: heidi-holl...@googlegroups.com; 'Adam Roberts '
Subject: Heidi tribute

[Richard L. Klein]

Jonah -

Was this to me or some other Richard? 

I was planning on attending as is Beth Turesson who stayed at great length at the Melville House.

See you then. 

Richard

--

[Richard Dowden]

Dear Jonah
Yes - I have been waiting to know if I will be here then. Sorry for the
delay. It looks now like I definitely will be here and able to come.
All the best
Richard

--