In August 1961, Jomo Kenyatta was released from detention after nine years. He was 72 years old. The British had hoped that years of isolation on the northern frontier, broken by hard labour, would reduce his influence. They had miscalculated. He walked out of Gatundu in central Kenya to crowds of thousands. He had become more symbol than man, the embodiment of Kenya's determination to be free. Within two years he was Prime Minister. Within three he was President. The empire that had imprisoned him handed him the keys to the country.