'Cornflake' was Suu Kyi's lifeline

BURMESE pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has revealed the source of an unlikely lifeline when she was under house arrest - "Hairy Cornflake" Dave Lee Travis.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who spent 15 years under house arrest since 1989, said the DJ's request show on the BBC World Service helped make her "world much more complete".

Asked about the cuts to the service, she said: "I feel very sorry about that. But I think the World Service has changed since my first bout of house arrest, which was from 1989 to 1995."

Asked what kind of music she used to tune into on the World Service, she said: "I used to listen to all sorts of different programmes, not just classical music. I can't remember what the name of that programme . . . Dave Travis? Was it?"

After interviewer Eddie Mair asked if she meant Dave Lee Travis, Ms Suu Kyi said: "Yes! Didn't he have a programme with all different sorts of music?

"I would listen to that quite happily because the listeners would write in and I had a chance to hear other people's words. It made my world much more complete."

Ms Suu Kyi said of being under house arrest: "We listen to the radio much more carefully because that's our only line to the outside world."

The former Radio 1 DJ presented A Jolly Good Show on the World Service for 20 years until 2001. He said: "I'm not surprised that Aung San Suu Kyi listened to my show, but I'm touched she remembers it."