Dr. Kamal Mirawdeli came to London from the Kurdish area of Iraq in July 1981. His activities in his homeland - among other things he was the Chair of the Kurdish Writers Union - led to his arrest on many occasions. Dr. Mirawdeli works tirelessly for the Kurdish community in London, and is very active as both an academic and a poet.
I arrived in London; I think it was, 11th July 1981. When I came to London I had the address of a hotel, from a friend, and after we arrived it was the first time of my life, and I had a friend with me. We took underground from Heathrow. I had the map so I knew it already; so it was easy for me, and we went to Gloucester Road, and the hotel was there somewhere in Gloucester Road.
We went to the hotel and asked some people, about whether to stay here or to book, and I was surprised, everyone was busy, everyone was --. No one answered our question and everyone said 'please, please wait, please…' and as if we were harassing them and bothering them. So I didn't know what was happening, and I didn't know anything at all about, for example, about British culture to say maybe they were watching a football match or something, but then everyone was watching something.
Then when I insisted with the young woman and said, 'please I want to talk to you we are a guest, we want to stay here', she said 'no, no I am watching the wedding of Diana.'
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