Smash hit

“Many times my wife [moi woife] has said to me, ‘You see a lot of dignitaries, you’ve lived in the UK for 30 years and you went to university in the US. Why don’t you at least go and see somebody who can teach you to speak like an Englishman?’ But I [oi] want to be me, I [oi] don’t have to imitate anything.”

Later he calls me to explain that the “oi” was probably caused by the antibiotics he was taking.

He wears a sharp, unfashionable suit made by a retired Savile Row tailor, with a dark-blue shirt and tie. His hair is slicked back. You wouldn’t notice him in the streets of Mayfair, where lots of people look like that. But he does look younger than 63, thanks probably to a combination of genes and his daily 65-minute, six-mile power walk. The dog, Toby, often goes too. Khalili is springy energetic and, since childhood, he has slept only four hours a night.

He is eager, and fond of physical contact — he touches my arm, shakes my hand, embraces me. He is proud about his glamorous contacts, his professorship, his memberships of, for example, the Knight Equestrian Order of Pope St Sylvester. He has, in fact, received knighthoods from two Popes: John Paul II and Benedict XVI. But, above all, he is very Middle Eastern in his love of pointed narrative. Almost every question I ask leads to a story with a how to live your life/meaning of life message. The one about his pronunciation generated a tale about a peacock, which I didn’t understand, but before I could ask for elucidation, he was on to the next one.

To give you the flavour, here are some samples.

He’s against revenge.

“At an early age I decided I would never become revengeful against anybody. Confucius said: ‘If you decide to take revenge, make sure you dig two graves.’ ”

Jealousy and envy are also out, and responsibility definitely in.

“Everything in life begins with oneself. We are responsible for everything that happens to us … The rules of life are very simple. This is what I teach my children, I always tell them, ‘Don’t be tempted to ever ever break a law or do something in a grey area of the law.’ ”

Or: “My accountant said there were ways I could avoid some taxes. I said, ‘I live here, I make money. Pay every penny we owe. Don’t explain

to me how you have to hide that here and there, I’m not interested. You pay what you owe.”

Or: “Being spiritual is a bit more than being religious.”

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