Singapore has started seven days of national mourning after the death of its founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
He died at the age of 91.
Mr Lee was Singapore's Prime Minister for 31 years - turning the city-state into a global financial hub and one of the wealthiest nations on earth.
Catherine Drew has been talking to Douglas Hurd.
Lord Hurd served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major between 1979 and 1995.
He served as Foreign Secretary between 1989 and 1995
She began by asking him for his memories of first meeting Lee Kuan Yew.
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LORD HURD
I first met him when I was working for Ted Heath a long, long time ago, in 1969 and he took me round the Far East to discuss the "East of Suez" policy that the Labour Government was pursuing and our job was to tell the rulers of the Gulf and people like Lee Kuan Yew not to take too much notice of it because Ted would win the election in 1970 and it would all be up in the air again. So I went round with him and that was the first time I saw Lee Kuan Yew and I was very impressed. and then later when he came to London he used to stay in the Hyde Park Hotel and he used to send for me, because he felt he knew me and that I talked something approaching sense, his standards were very high in that respect. He didn't suffer fools gladly at all, but anyway. So I got sent for and I used to go round to the Hyde Park and spend half an hour with him and used to ask me how things were going in Britain and I told him as best I could.
CD
And when he called you to meet him at his hotel, did that make you slightly anxious?
LORD HURD
Originally I was, but once it had happened once or twice I got used to it and I had a great admiration for him. He talked very sensibly about the world, he never said a foolish thing that I remember and of course he was hugely respected not only in Singapore but throughout the Far East.
CD
But you said he had a good sense of humour as well?
LORD HURD
Yes. Yes he did, he did. Umm. It was quite often at someone else's expense if you see what I mean. He didn't mince his words and he talked very frankly.
CD
You told me earlier that when you were with Ted Heath, Lee Kuan Yew had some interesting comments about the success of Singapore?
LORD HURD
He said that the British Empire was quite largely the result of Britain looking for places where we could refuel our warships which were oil run and needed constantly replenishing. And we'd chosen certain places, we'd chosen Aden, we'd chosen Bombay, we'd chosen Hong Kong and we'd chosen Singapore. These were our main stopping points going round the world. And what he said was, "and I tell you that of that competition Singapore is going to come out on top. We are doing things that the rest of the world envy."
CD
And of course he was more or less correct?
LORD HURD
I think the competition with Hong Kong is still to play for but both sides will tell you confidently that they're going to win.
CD
Lee Kuan Yew is much admired for his strategic thinking and insight. Did he get on well with former British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major?
LORD HURD
Um. I don't know I imagine he did. Margaret Thatcher I think he did. He and Ted Heath were quite close and they talked from time to time. I think he had quite a range of people that were on his wave length here.
CD
So did Lee Kuan Yew advise Britain in the run-up to the handover of Hong Kong to China?
LORD HURD
We didn't certainly formally ask for his advice but he was in touch with Margaret Thatcher as you say and he had a very clear idea of what China was and the way China was going and he thought that we had no option but to leave. And so he supported what Margaret Thatcher did, the agreement she reached with Deng Xiaoping in China and he thought that was the only way go.
CD
Lee Kuan Yew has written and spoken widely about the transformation of Singapore, what lessons do you think, that he leaves the world?
LORD HURD
I think Singapore has, he's right, they've hit a winning streak and that wasn't by good luck, they've had good luck of course but they've got highly intelligent population and he's made sure they're properly educated and on good terms with their neighbours. It's crucial for a small state, he saw the importance of that. I daresay he had critics at home in Singapore but I think in the world outside Singapore, outside the immediate problems of Singapore, he was very well respected, he was one of the few wise men around and I think everybody who met him was impressed, by his, what you call his strategic vision, that's a good phrase, I think he had that.
CD
So how will you remember Lee Kuan Yew?
LORD HURD
He saw the world as a whole, and that was one advantage of being the leader of a small state, you couldn't afford to do other than look at the world as a whole, and he did, that is his strategic vision. He had a view not just of Britain, not just of America but all of us put together. I respected him as a great man, as one of the few people in the world today who exercised leadership and have what you've called a strategic vision I think that's exactly right, he thought about the world as a whole and he was shrewd about his judgements of people and events and I think, reasonably detached. Of course he stuck up for Singapore, Singapore was everything to him but he didn't limit his vision to Singapore, he thought in terms of the whole world and how the whole world was doing.