Bhubaneswar, Sep 2 - Lady Di replied to him. So did Michael Jackson, Ronald Reagan, Yasser Arafat, Pele and David Beckham. Why you may wonder are royalty and legends corresponding with a humble Orissa villager? Because one fine day, to find out if celebs actually respond, he shot off a letter to Margaret Thatcher - and she wrote back!

And that was the beginning of a lifetime's passion.

Priyabrat Biswal, 40, a small time transporter, sits in his humble house in Olihan village in Puri district flipping through a carefully preserved album that contains hundreds of letters and signed photographs from the who's who of the world.

'When in school, I was curious whether celebrities reply when ordinary people write to them. I gathered the courage to write a letter to then prime minister Indira Gandhi way back in 1984. But unfortunately, the same month she was assassinated,' said Biswal.

However, that did not dampen Biswal's spirit. He continued to write letters to world leaders and one day Biswal received a reply from former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

'I jumped with joy and showed it to everyone in my village. It was signed Oct 7, 1987,' he said showing his prized collection.

His first success egged him on and he continued to write letters to people who had achieved glory in literature, sports, politics and other fields.

And his perseverance paid off. He got replies from former country heads, queens, Nobel laureates, astronauts and sports icons.

Biswal got responses from Michael Jackson, Dominique Lapierre, Kofi Annan, Bill Gates, George Bush Sr, Ronald Reagan, Yasser Arafat, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Corazon C. Aquino, Lady Diana and the queen of Denmark.

Among sports legends, Pele, Mohammad Ali, David Beckham, Carl Lewis, Nadia Comaneci, Rod Laver, Steffi Graf, Michael Jordan, Florence Griffith Joyner and Goldie Sayers have responded to his letters.

Even astronauts like Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin have responded though he regrets not having a letter from Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma.