Autobiography

Chopard diamond watch which I had bought for
her birthday. I must confess I looked quite
dapper myself. We climbed into the chauffeurdriven
car and set off for the restaurant
through the old town of Marrakesh, drinking up
the exotic atmosphere as we went.
Before long we turned off into an even older
part of the town and the narrow backstreets
were swarming with Moroccans. The driver
stopped, got out of the car and opened the
door for Lesley. We stood on the side of the
road, and the driver drove off. I felt very
conspicuous it wasn’t the sort of place where
you wanted to be standing wearing anything of
value, and I was starting to get nervous, but
then a small man with a lantern in one hand
and a staff in the other, dressed in what could
only be described as a nightshirt, came up to
me and said, ‘Mr Gold?’
‘Yes,’ I replied.
‘Follow me,’ he said, and he proceeded to walk
down a very dark and dingy alleyway with a
number of beggars squatting against the wall.
The alleyway twisted and turned, becoming
darker and darker. It was littered with stray
cats and barking dogs, and as the cobbled
alleyway became narrower we could see a
number of fearsome looking characters
standing in shadowy doorways. It was very
intimidating. Lesley, fearing for her safety,
removed her new diamond watch and slipped it
into my pocket. She subsequently confessed
she was terrified and I was thinking, ‘Michael
Winner, I’ll never forgive you.’ The man who
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