The close links between Nelson Mandela and Britain

London provided a base for many of South Africa's anti-apartheid leaders in the 1960s, leading to a special relationship between Britain and the campaign that Nelson Mandela would come to symbolise.

ITV News Special Correspondent Rageh Omaar reports on how Mandela influenced Britain:

Nelson Mandela touched aspects of British public life in a way that very few other international figures and the presence of his statue on Parliament Square is a symbol of what he meant to the country.

While he was still a prisoner in 1988 thousands attended a concert to celebrate his 70th birthday, Annie Lennox was one of the stars that performed that day, said that he inspired Britons in a way that will be hard to replace.