Sir Roger Moore was one of the keynote speakers
at the Oxonian Society’s 2006 annual black tie gala.
Roger Moore offered a packed audience at the Princeton
Club very personal insights into the global child health crisis
and the relationship between Islam and terrorism.
Founded just after 9/11 as a means of stimulating provocative
discussion and debate
with the world’s most interesting intellects , the nonprofit
Oxonian Society lived up to its high standards.
Keynote speaker Sir Roger Moore, famous for being
the longest running James Bond character (his urbane and dashing
007 portrayal complemented a 60 year career in film, TV, and theater),
chose to speak about his 15 year service as Honorary Ambassador
for UNICEF, a cause that his dear friend, the late Audrey Hepburn,
had encouraged him to embrace. Armed with statistics (“40,000
children a day die of preventable causes”), Moore explained
that he had “put faces and names on the numbers,”
traveling worldwide to view firsthand the tragic consequences
of unclean
water, poverty, and the lack of education on innocent youngsters.
In Salvador, “I was not prepared to see children
whose limbs had been blown off by land mines…One baby was
dying of malnutrition. The doctor said if they’d reached
her one week before they could have saved her,” Moore recounted
to a hushed audience.
Yet in counterpoint to the children’s suffering, Moore also
highlighted the generosity of many benefactors who have listened
to his appeals and responded with charity and
compassion.
A cardiologist in Manhattan, who several years
ago installed a pacemaker in
Moore after he collapsed while appearing in “The Play What
I Wrote,” presented him with a $10.000 check for UNICEF
instead of a bill. British Airways, for whom Moore has been a
spokesman since 2004, has raised $43 million for UNICEF as part
of its “Change for Good” campaign (Moore has been
known to jump up during their flights to make impassioned pleas
for donations.)
“Tender care of human beings will never become
obsolete,” summed up Moore, quoting a passage that Audrey
Hepburn read to her loved ones from her bedside in her final days:
“Never throw out anybody… Remember, if you need a
helping hand, you’ll find it at the end of your arm. As
you grow older, you’ll find that you have two hands, one
for helping yourself and one for helping others.”
Listen
to Sir Roger's speech
