A television show on May 18 night featured President Ho Chi Minh's patriotism, desire for peace, strong will and readiness to sacrifice for the dream of liberating Vietnam from colonialism.

The show, intended to mark the 125th birthday of the national hero, was broadcast live from Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi and Kim Lien Village in the central province of Nghe An, where the President was born.

It included talks with foreign and domestic researchers, war veterans as well as recorded meeting with scholars in Britain and France. Various songs, dances by local and foreign artists were sprinkled throughout the show.

"He came here to learn, to read and to study English. He started earning money clearing snow. His friends said his hands became swollen after hours of shovelling snow. He worked with thin clothes." These were the words used by John Callow, director of Archives at the Marx Memorial Library in London.

Audience were shown a small room in the basement of the Carlton Hotel in London where Nguyen Ai Quoc worked as a pastry cook in 1913. He used to write new English words on his arms to learn while working.

"It is hard to know how many books he read in two years in the United Kingdom. We know for sure that he came here to learn, not to earn a living," noted Len Aldis, general secretary of UK-Vietnam Friendship Association.

Lady Borton, an American scholar, said in his first 10 years travelling abroad, Ho Chi Minh met many difficulties because he was totally alone.

Borton said she appreciated Ho Chi Minh's extraordinary capability to be able to select talented people and combine them. "He always thought about his people, not about power for himself," she said.-VNA