IT was as a result of ...

[Michael Grove]

 the publication of a piece on the Technology Page of the Financial Times,

 following the launch of the BBC Microcomputer based Interactive

 Videodisc Authoring System, that the office of the Aga Khan contacted me

 to arrange a meeting to discuss their potential educational use of same. 

 A visit to Acorn Computer in Cambridge was organised and I arranged to

 meet the Aga Khan's envoy at his hotel in London for breakfast, prior to

 driving him to a meeting with Acorn Directors, on the morning of the 9th

 February 1983.  Upon arrival, I was shown to his table, to be greeted most

 respectfully, by a gentleman who was clearly disturbed. Tears ran down his

 face as he then related to me that it was his responsibility to attend to the

 well being of the Aga Khan's stable in Eire and that last evening, the now

 famous Shergar had been kidnapped.

 It was, however, "still important" for him to continue with the arrangement

 to travel to Cambridge and be in a position to report back some more

 positive news to the Aga Khan. Following a successful tour of Acorn

 Computer and a demonstration of the Videodisc Authoring System, I

 returned him to his hotel and wished him well for his dealings with

 everything. As has often been my experience, in respect to the unforeseen

 circumstances of events such as this, they do not always conclude with the

 most appropriate result, for a diverse combination of reasons; and perhaps

 it was the lack lustre reception of the two founding directors, in the final

 meeting, which was at the heart of the reason why we heard nothing

 further from the Aga Khan Foundation. 

 This was further compounded, subsequently, during an IDA tour of Eire, 

 viewing potential sites for the building of an Interactive CD/DVD/BLU-RAY

 manufacturing facility. It was as we had just completed the viewing of one

 site and were leaving for a return trip to Dublin for the night, when, to the

 sound of a workmen's radio playing U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm 

 Looking For", we were told that one of the IDA cars had broken down and

 arrangements had been made for our party to be shuttled to a nearby

 railway station, to catch the train to Dublin. During a discussion with the

 IDA representatives on the way to our destination, one of them out of the

 blue said in conversation: "that over there is the Aga Khan's stud where

 Shergar was taken from."  

 

.

[Michael Grove]

   Record win: Shergar wins the Derby by 10 lengths in 1981 

   two years before his kidnapping. Shergar's 10-length victory under

   teenage jockey Walter Swinburn is a record that few Derby winners

   have come close to threatening.

   

   The Aga Khan has admitted the sadness he feels that his brilliant

   colt Shergar never had a chance to prove himself as a stallion. But the

   man whose silks were carried by the iconic Derby winner 30 years

   ago claims he never considered withdrawing his racing and breeding

   operation from Ireland after Shergar was kidnapped by the IRA and

   subsequently died. Shergar, who had been syndicated for £10million,

   covered 35 mares in his first year at stud but was abducted shortly

   before his second season. His remains have never been found.