In a year of notable celebrity deaths, it was of great sadness to hear when I woke up this morning of the passing of Muhammad Ali, one of my childhood heroes. He was part of my formative years, a constant in the media in the late sixties and early seventies for all of the reasons that many will recount and celebrate over the coming days. I remember him as part of that golden age of boxing that glued our family together, when all of us would sit around the TV to watch him as a sportsman and entertainer. As a kid in the UK his appearances on ‘Parkinson’ and his numerous interviews with Harry Carpenter were as important as any of his fights. For all of his motormouth bravado, he was a man who backed up his words with a deep honesty and integrity. He was a champion of the world in so many ways and easily one of the greatest sportsmen of all time.