ONE of the greatest pleasures of my life has been my friendship with Sir James Goldsmith, who died last week. There was no sadness about Jimmy, even at the very end, when pancreatic cancer had spread. He refused painkillers and kept a clear head.
The jokes never stopped, nor did the wide-ranging discussions, anecdotes and all, on everything from the history of the Zulus, to NATO expansion, to Louis XIV. Jimmy was an expert on history, philosophy, and politics-in the case of politics, adding practical experience to book-learning. The last British campaign was enlivened by the way his piercing blue eyes would twinkle and he would gurgle with delight whenever he wrong-footed an opponent.
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