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I spent some time in studio today with the Celtic captain Neil Lennon, whose been in Belfast publicising his . I watched (through the glass separation) the end of his live interview with John Daly on his Saturday radio show and then recorded a conversation with him for next week's Not the Nolan Show. His reputation as an aggressive player who takes no prisoners on the pitch is one thing, but that's not the person I met today.

He talked movingly about his battle with depression and how medication has helped him to cope with an illness that is as real as any physical illness. He recalled his experience of sectarianism in Scotland and in Northern Ireland -- as a Catholic Celtic player -- and the apparent Loyalist death threat phoned in to ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Broadcasting House,Belfast, in 2002 which ended his international career and stopped him captaining the Northern Ireland team at its home game that same day with Cyprus. And we talked about how his attitude to Northern Ireland has changed since. Throughout, Neil was thoughtful and very articulate.

I reminded him of a comment by an English jounalist in 2002, that by leaving Northern Ireland following the death threat, he has behaved like "a big girl's blouse". Clearly not a journalist who has ever received a death threat from a Loyalist paramilitary group.

On the way out of the studio, I mentioned that I have known a number of people over the years who have struggled with depression. Often, they have been very successful and accomplished in their various fields. I wondered aloud if sometimes those who are hard-wired, as it were, for adventurous lives that leave a mark are also hard-wired for those kinds of struggles.