This guy was amazing. AMAZING!

This morning I settled down with a cup of tea and a piece of fruit cake (okay... two pieces of fruit cake) and watched this video. It's over an hour long, so it's an investment of time. But it's incredible.

Randy Pausch was a university professor. He gave this talk to an audience of 450 students and colleagues at his university, just a few weeks after he found out he was dying of terminal pancreatic cancer.

Ironically, the talk had been pitched as a "Last Lecture", where top academics were asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and give a hypothetical "final talk". Randy had been planning the lecture for months and when he found out he was dying, he went ahead and gave it anyway.

It's inspiring and funny and brilliant: it's all about achieving your childhood dreams. It's been viewed by almost 11 million people on YouTube, and millions more on TV, because before he died in July 2008, Randy gave an abridged version of the lecture on Oprah.

I'm so sad for Randy's family and friends that he's no longer here, but what an amazing legacy to leave behind. What an incredible guy. And what a beautiful video to kick-start Christmas festivities :)