my guest today is the renowned heart surgeon samer nashef. give us an extraordinary insight into the highs and lows of a life spent mending broken hearts. applause. samer nashef, a very, very warm welcome to hardtalk. thank you. you have described the heart as a very simple mechanism. you say it is a bag made of muscle, the simplest of pumps. is that really the way you see it? that is what it is. yes, but it's so much more to all of us as human beings. poets write about it, novelists invest it with so much. do you not, when you look at that heart in the operating theatre, think of it in slightly more mystical terms? well, the mystical think about it is that when it stops you're dead. so that's quite important. laughter. but it doesn't like anything like valentines cards and there is no point in making jewellery that looks like it. nobody makes jewellery that looks like livers or kidneys, as far as i know. laughter. it is simply a pump. there is probably a reason why people thought it was the seat of emotions because when you have emotions and

—— samer nashef. pumps. is that really how you see it? -- samer nashef. that is really how it is.vested with so much. do you not, when you look at that heart in the operating theatre, give it in a slightly more mystical terms? well, the mysticalthink about it, that's when it stops you dead so that is quite important but it doesn't like anything like valentines cards and there is no point in making jewellery that looks like it. nobody makesjewellery point in making jewellery that looks like it. nobody makes jewellery that looks like livers or kidneys, as far asi looks like livers or kidneys, as far as i know. and it is simply a pump. there is probably a reason people think it is the seat of emotions because when you have emotions and release adrenaline, they stimulate the heart and it beats faster and more strongly. so they assume it is the heart that's generating their emotions. the heart isjust simply responding to them but it is a clever poem. —— pump. responding to them but it is a clever poem. -- pump. a clever pump and you have in your matter—of—fact way, described it, being