From James Crossley

Paolo was special. I’ve known him since the 70’s and had been in contact with him over the last year and in January he was bemoaning the fact that he had no turkey at Christmas but was looking forward to some lamb at Easter! I would like to share a memory with you. I was in Athens at a hotel recommended by Takis and he also recommended the hotel to Paolo who was on holiday in Greece, but Paolo did not know about me. At the time (1982) Yaser Arafat was staying at the hotel for one of those middle east peace conferences and security was everywhere. I came into the main lobby and saw Paolo checking in – he saw me and threw the book back at the clerk and shouted “You allow someone like that to stay in your hotel!! Get my bags I am leaving!! This is disgraceful!!”. You can imagine what effect this had on security… The clerk was dumbfounded, the guards had there guns in their hands and I continued to walk towards Paolo. Finally he threw his arms around me and kissed me and the clerk realised that it was a joke… The security was less convinced and I had to whisper into Paolo’s ear to shut up or we would both be shot! This was the only time I had ever known Paolo to be quiet. We had a great few days together, but all the drinks went on my bill and the final invoice was 3 feet long… Saatchi apparently were not happy with my expense claim! Paolo, you will always be here so long as people have memories of you. With love, Jim Crossley.