We recently marked the centenary of Gandhi's wonderful peace concept of satyagraha. Eye, being of more recent birth, did not know of the historic visit the great man made to Woodbrooke in the 1930s – 1931 to be precise, during the weekend of 17 to 19 October.

Myths build up around such events, and Eye tried to confirm the little story in the Woodbrooke Tour booklet that Gandhi brought his own goat to the centre and cooked his meals on the floor, burning a hole in the carpet! Was it true?
We turned to the excellent account in the Woodbrooke Journal of summer 1997 by Chris Lawson, which detailed the visit. Gandhi was in England for the Second Round Table Conference on the future of his country (and tailed by British secret service personnel). Indeed, he drank goat's milk, but it was from a local farm animal, collected by the warden's son, Martin Cadbury. His meals were cooked by his own entourage, but no information is forthcoming about damaged carpets. Gandhi, however, did sleep on the floor.

But what caught our Eye was some of the candid statements he made during a large, gathered meeting held on the Sunday of that weekend in the Common Room. And this one in particular:

'The rate of interest charged by the Indian bania (moneylenders) is nothing compared to the loot carried on by the British bania through a juggling of currency and merciless exactions of Land Revenue. I do not know of another instance in history of such an organised exploitation of so unorganised and gentle a race… The extravagance of the princes was nothing compared to the heartless squandering of Ccrores of rupees in New Delhi to satisfy the whim of a viceroy in order to reproduce England in India, when masses of people were dying of hunger.' You can be a man of peace but still pack a punch.