IT is not a novel idea: which interesting personality would you want to share a meal with? From 2012, The New York Times has run a weekly column ‘By the Book’, in which famous authors are asked to identify three writers (dead or alive) they would like to invite for a literary dinner. Predictably, most chose William Shakespeare — provided he spoke modern English.
Even earlier, since 1994, the UK’s Financial Times ran its series ‘Lunch with the FT’, in which a singularly important living personality was invited for an interview over lunch at a location of their choice, at FT’s expense. Out of 1,000 or so lunches, the FT selected 50 interviews, publishing them as Lunch with the FT — A Second Helping (2019).
Intended to be a one-to-one, the FT occasionally had to pay also for accompanying security details. One brought five guards. Modest by Pakistani standards, where no leaders worth their salt travel without a 50-strong police escort, not counting the ambulance team.
Not every interviewee honoured FT’s open-palmed largesse. The newspaper tycoon Richard Desmond, for example, ordered a bottle of wine before the FT host could open the menu. It cost £580.
Many of the........