And the Winner is ...

I was sorry to hear that Michael Winner had died.

I knew he was in poor health but I didn't realise how bad it was. (Reports of his death remind me of the epitaph on Spike Milligan's gravestone: "I told you I was ill.")

I interviewed him once. (Winner, not Milligan.) Funny thing is, I can't remember the year (or even the decade) or which magazine it was for.

I suspect it was for Capital Account, a magazine I edited in the early Nineties. We published a regular feature called 'Money Talks' and each month we talked to a well known person about, er, money.

Some, like Winner, were very wealthy. Others, like Jeffrey Bernard, weren't. But they all had something interesting to say.

What I remember about the Winner interview is walking up and down the road where he lived in Holland Park. I was looking for his house but I was also killing time because I didn't want to arrive early, or late. (He was a stickler, I believe, for punctuality.)

Although I had been invited to his home (he was finishing his breakfast when I arrived), the meeting was business-like. He wasn't rude (as some have complained). He was polite and hospitable.

As for what he actually said, I can't remember a thing! Sorry.

Comments

[Heretic]

Jeffrey Bernard was no kind of example to anyone, except those determined to live life on their own terms. I thought he was brilliant, funny and fatally flawed. Thank you for reminding of him.