Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend

Christo Brand was an 18-year-old recruit to the South African prison service when he was sent to work at the Robben Island prison. He was assigned to guard Nelson Mandela, and over the coming decades the two would form a long-lasting freindship. Brand would later return to Robben Island after the prison's closure to work at the museum, and works alongside former political prisoners from the apartheid era.

Barbara Jones is the Africa Correspondent for the Mail on Sunday newspaper. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa and has covered Nelson Mandela since 2000.

Rupert Degas is a prolific audiobook narrator with decades of experience narrating audiobooks, with some 300 titles to his credit. His extensive catalogue showcases his remarkable ability to bring different characters to life with his voice. He has received particular critical acclaim for his performances of The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss and for Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. In 2022 Rupert was inducted as a Golden Voice by AudioFile Magazine. What is a Golden Voice? According to AudioFile, 'a Golden Voice narrator exemplifies the very best in audiobook talent, and AudioFile bestows the highest honour in audiobook narration on voice artists who have made significant contributions to the audiobook art form'. Since 1992 AudioFile has given this lifetime achievement honour to just 38 audiobook narrators including Miriam Margolyes, Jim Dale, Martin Jarvis, and Derek Jacobi. Great company indeed! In addition to audiobooks Rupert has provided voices for more than 30 animated films and series including Bob the Builder, The Amazing World of Gumball, Thomas & Friends and The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill. Rupert has performed in many radio series and video games, as well as voicing thousands of commercials and promos. He also sometimes appears on film, TV and stage, most notably in the original London productions of Stones in His Pockets and The 39 Steps – for which he and the team won the 2007 Olivier Award for Best Comedy.