A DAZZLING COLLECTION OF INTERVIEWS WITH MAJOR CULTURAL ICONS NOW SADLY DEPARTED
This anthology by celebrated interviewer Naim Attallah takes in some of his most spectacular encounters with the leading lights of the past
Naim Attallah spent a large part of the 1990s conducting in-depth interviews with a wide range of distinguished people from the arts, politics, business, academe and the media, some of which were first published in the Oldie and then in a series of books which were highly acclaimed on publication. This selection of interviews is chosen from the men and women who, alas, are no longer with us.The subjects are catholic in their choices, status and opinions and include Enoch Powell, Diana Mosley, Doris Lessing, Betty Friedan, John Updike, Elizabeth Jane-Howard, Hardy Amies, Patricia Highsmith, Harold Acton, and Julian Critchley. The interviews, all reprinted in their entirety, display the wit, wisdom and sheer life experience of a remarkable range of unforgettable and now legendary personalities. The shocking reality is that so many read as if conducted only yesterday.

Praise for Naim Attallah…
‘A magician interviewer of the highest order…’ Robert Kee
‘Attallah is a dab hand with skeleton keys. He is the smartest burglar in the business.’ W. F. Deedes
‘…it’s the subtlety of the interrogation that ensures these portraits emerge. Making real people real at second hand isn’t as easy as it seems.’ William Trevor

Naim Attallah is the chairman of Quartet Books. The former CEO of the Asprey group also co-founded the Academy Club with Auberon Waugh, supported the Literary Review and The Oldie for many years and has written three volumes of autobiography, as well as been involved in numerous productions for the theatre, cinema and television. He lives in London.