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On 24 August 2011, the first person to walk on the Moon Neil Armstrong delivered a very rare and unique speech in Sydney.
Somewhat curiously, the event was the 125th Anniversary of the Certified Practising Accountants Australia. The CPA's CEO Alex Malley pulled off a real coup, based on the knowledge that Armstrong's father Steven had been an auditor.
Courtesy of my wife being a CPA, I was privileged to attend that incredible event with her.
I was, however, not going to be swayed by these signs outside the venue. They could prise the camera from my cold, dead hands...
But recording it surreptitiously meant that the video footage is near useless. Instead, I've worked today to get the audio into a reasonable state for listening.
I haven't published it beforehand though, not wanted to circumvent any speaking tours he might undertake.
But with the incredibly sad passing of Neil Armstrong overnight, there's a higher responsibility to get his words out there for everyone.
There was almost another hour of questions and answers - as valuable and interesting as the speech itself. I'll post that as soon as can get get the editing done.
And further, to honour the Armstrong family's wish for everyone to "look up and wink at the moon tonight", I'll be taking the telescope into the Gungahlin town centre tonight so people can do just that.
I hope people enjoy the recording, and please feel free to leave your thoughts here.
[SPEECH DELETED]
CPA Australia also published an extended interview with Armstrong. The introduction to that interview contained these prophetic words:
"Rarely, if ever again, will Neil Armstrong conduct an interview such as this."Nor a speech like this one...
A sad sad day.
Hi Alan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting this up, I was there last year and have long wanted to re-listen to Neil's presentation. It was a brilliant speech and was fortunate to meet Neil after the speech and chat with him for around 45 minutes. Very sad to learn of his passing, he was a true gentle man and a worthy representative of all humanity to touch another world.
Thanks for sharing!
Kind regards,
Peter
Thanks peter for these thoughts. How amazing that you got to meet with him afterwards? Do you have a CPA link that brought this about or something?
ReplyDeleteWould you mind sharing some information about the discussion?
Unfortunately, the CPA are now demanding that I remove the recording. I think this would be a great shame, plus I wouldn't get the Q and As up and shared either. (Possibly more interesting than the speech even.)
I've told their lawyers that I want to talk to Alex Malley about it first but haven't heard back.
Meantime, I'm talking with someone in NASA who knows an Armstrong family member to see if there's any way to get their OK. But it's a sensitive time obviously...