ad their mutual friend been successful at previously setting up Sebastian Fox, he might never have introduced him – twice – to the actor. In early 2012, Sebastian was at a Prokofiev concert performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, at which Simon was the narrator. He had been invited by their friend Tim Walker, then the chief executive of the orchestra, who took him backstage afterwards to meet Simon. “It was very rushed,” remembers Simon. “It was really about one and a half minutes.
“I’d really just enjoyed the evening,” says Sebastian. “First of all seeing Simon on stage, it was a very moving performance and exhilarating. At the dinner, I really warmed to Si.” He smiles at him. “I really liked your vivacity. The note was really just to say thank you and that it would be lovely to see you again.”
When they met, Sebastian was 29 and Simon was 63; Simon had been in the arts all his life, and Sebastian was a management consultant. Over four or five months, they got to know each other well. “When we finally went away together for a weekend for the first time, it was to Hay-on-Wye, where I was reading TS Eliot,” says Simon. “So culture has hovered over this relationship from the beginning.” Sebastian admits it could sometimes be intimidating meeting Simon’s friends, some of them very famous.
Hahahaha
He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;