Camila Batmanghelidjh. Not someone I wanted to interview, if I’m honest.
I resisted it for quite a long time.
The editor of the paper where I worked (The Financial Times) had sent word he wanted me to see her, and write about the remarkable work she was doing with disadvantaged young people.
I should add that this was a long time ago, and she wasn’t particularly well known.
I procrastinated for weeks – possibly months – until eventually I heard from the editor I reported to directly that he’d been asked by the big chief: “How’s Flintoff getting on with that interview about Kids Company?”
So I made a phone call, went to see Camila – and it’s fair to say it changed my outlook on life.
That’s why I not only read Camila’s obituary in The Times last week but also drew this picture of it / her.
That interview, and the others that followed, over a period of several months, also helped Camila. My story was published on the cover of the FT magazine, and indirectly led to a HUGE wodge of funding for her charity.
For some time afterwards, I would receive envelopes containing unsolicited financial contributions. One, from India, contained a small number of rupees (“to help the poor children of London”).
All of which is a very long way to say: interviews make things happen.