In an interesting revelation, Christiane Amanpour, the chief international correspondent for CNN International (DStv 401) and the anchor of Amanpour, revealed a moment in her career as a star TV reporter where she suddenly acted "uncharacteristic" and because of that, lost a potential interview with Nelson Mandela because she simply couldn't get herself to invade his presence.
In one of a few easter eggs - imbedded clips from not used footage in the "Nelson Mandela video diary" aka Miracle Rising: South Africa, the documentary on History (DStv 186) - CNN International's chief international correspondent actually has a speechless and emotional moment right at the end while the end credits are rolling.
Christiane Amanpour lifts up both hands for a few seconds, and try to regain her composure as she tells of the time she saw Nelson Mandela and thought she was going to run and ask for an interview.
"I've always wanted to interview Nelson Mandela and I've never had the chance. One day I was in the underground parking lot and I saw this hubbub around one of the trailers. And out step Nelson Mandela."
"And I thought: This is my chance. I'm going to go right up there, I'm going to ask him for an interview, and he's going to say yes, and it's going to be great, and it's going to be an exclusive, and wow this is going to be my dream come true. So I walked right up there, and you know what .... .... I ... ... ...."
"... I did something very uncharacteristic for myself. I couldn't get myself to break the zone of privacy that was around him," said Christiane Amanpour.
