Over at Pajamas Media...

I have a brief account – Coffee with the “Diplomat of the Year” – of my interview with Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy yesterday. What I didn’t put in the piece was the movie talk that ensued. Not surprising, since the Ambassador was in LA for the first time in twenty-five years and we were sitting in an office with a view of the Hollywood sign. (Gary McVeigh of the American Cinema Foundation was also present). Sensoy recounted to me with pleasure his experiences as a boy watching the filming of that great old thriller “Topkapi” that made so many of us want to visit Istanbul. The Ambassador made the acquaintance at the time with one of the film’s stars – Peter Ustinov – who was looking for a tennis game. They played doubles on the Istanbul Hilton courts. Sensoy pronounced Ustinov a good guy and not at all snobbish.