Appreciations

I owe so much to him - above all the wonderful encouragement he was always ready to give. I didn’t have the opportunity to have a cosy chat with him, but that hardly mattered. He knew of me and I, him, and his letters to me are now so very precious.

There are some things I have found little mention of in the many tributes paid to him. That he was one of the greatest 20th century seers goes without saying. After all, it was he who predicted man's first landing on the moon ; told of the millennium bug; and the coming of the mobile phone. In this century, he has told us of what lies ahead - and who knows, he may also be recreated all over again!

In one of his letters, he told of how, not long ago, "a guy walked in and removed six strands of my already scanty hair. This has been launched in a satellite. My DNA is on its way to the stars, so I may be created all over again. Think of that! A million years from now, half a dozen Arthur Clarkes could be floating around the galaxies!"

Of course, he also observed that the impact of genetic modification would be profound. He predicted that athletics would be transformed. "You could have swimmers with webbed feet and built-in snorkels. There will also be space tourism and we would be able to travel on the space elevator I had planned. It will be a carbon-fibre cable car to the stars."

Actually, Sir Arthur had mooted this idea of a space elevator that would transport people and materials into space in his book, "Fountains of Paradise”. The concept impressed scientists, and even now, NASA engineers have finalised plans for this giant space elevator whose cables, fixed to earth would attach to a space station moored 22,300 miles above, creating tube-like tracks along which vehicles could move. NASA has also said that whereas, in the beginning, it did not have the materials to make Sir Arthur's elevator a reality, there are now, thanks to technological advances, substances as strong as diamonds and highly flexible. Soon, vehicles will be sent up the cables towards the stars by an electromagnetic propulsion system - a system that is already used in US passenger trains.

Sir Arthur has gone, and will not see so many of his prophecies resolved, but his incredible drive and output remains legendary. Now out are his new works: "The Treasure of the Great Reef' , "Arthur C. Clarke and C.S. Lewis: A Correspondence", "The Last Man in the Moon" and his introduction to H.G. Wells’ "The Invisible Man”.

In one of his letters he told of his discussions and contracting for "A Time Odyssey" [a trilogy with Stephen Baxter, with the titles being "Time's Eye", "Nova" and "Wolflings"]. He had also completed "The Golden Crysalids" [it is also called "The Caves of Ice"] and was considering options on the filming of "Rendezvous with Rama", "Childhood's End" , "The Fountains of Paradise" and "Maelstrom II'' .

To Sir Arthur, year 2001 was indelibly stained with the events of 9/11. "I am still spooked with the fact that in 1973, I chose that very date in "Rendezvous with Rama" to tell of the worst disaster in human history. As it was, several Spaceguard Foundations were established as a result of the novel."

He also told me of his becoming involved with the internet. "There are so many web sites devoted to me - I simply don't have the time to look at them." He never could resist sending me things he thought would amuse me:

“Dear Carl - 1 heard a silly joke that I've told others about. It seems a pompous member of a London Club told a friend proudly, "I have an ancestor who lost a leg in Waterloo."

"Poor fellow," said the fellow club member, "which platform?"

He would also tell of when he would go for a few days or at a weekend to relax by the sea at Bentota. He loved the sea ... and he was always the cheerful man, not given to griping about his own physical condition.

Six years ago, at 84, he wrote: "I am now completely wheel chaired, but 1 can still play a vicious game of table tennis as long as I can lean on the table. Now that I'm passing my 84th birthday, I really have nothing to grumble about. Even my memory seems unimpaired, though sometimes the access time is longer than I would prefer.''

Sir Arthur, you could hardly know of the gap you made in my life when you went away ... but did you really go away? No, I don't think you did, for you loved this land so much that you chose to rest here. Some day in the future, and I am certain of this, you will stride the galaxies and go where no man has gone before but now all I can do is bid you fond farewell.

Prophet of the cosmos will soon stride the galaxies