Aleco Joannides

Listening to John McEnroe commenting at Wimbledon reminded me of Aleco meeting McEnroe in the lift (of course) of the Grand Hotel, Stockholm. He asked McEnroe what he did. “Tennis player” was the surly reply. “But I am a tennis ball,” replied Aleco.

Once in an hotel in Rio a group of carnival dancers appeared in the lobby wearing several sequins between them. Aleco asked for a chair.

When once I asked what he thought of some development in the arcane affairs of Latín, our joint venture news agency, he replied: “This is fantastic, my dear. Now we have 37 per cent (or some such number) of fuck all instead of 10 per cent.”

What an entertaining, shrewd and kind man he was. ■