Bernie Ecclestone: "Here comes the hobbit with the Beatle haircut."

Another one of Taki's columns is causing a stir, this time up in London, where the Daily Mail used Taki's 'It's a small world' post as the intro point for a rare interview with Bernie Ecclestone. Below are a few of the choicest quotes. Click here to read the entire interview.

Ecclestone seldom gives interviews. After the uncomfortable silence of a man who wishes he had stuck to this policy, he suddenly grins, lighting up his parchment-pale face. "The truth is I didn't know what a hobbit was," he says in a staccato, rata-tat voice. "I'm very ignorant, so I had to look it up. Then I realised I was definitely a hobbit because they are minuscule and brilliant, and so am I!"

"I don't know what the price of drinks are in my hotel, because I never buy any. I make it a policy never to give anything away. In any case, I don't go into town. I hide out in my house nearby with my wife."

"I hate democracy as a political system. It stops you getting things done. I think people should have decisions made for them." 

What does he want from life? Wealth? He has that. Fame? He is recognised on the street. "I do catch the imagination. Here comes the hobbit with the Beatle haircut!" Respect? "Look, if stuck-up people in Gstaad and elsewhere don't like me, I don't care. I come from a line of 18,000-year-old hobbits."

Comments

[Filipa]

Slavica is Croatian-born, but Serb!

[Tolerance]

Well, the commentator seems to have a special disliking for Serbs... Serb or Croatian, Swiss or American, what's the difference?? A little more tolerance and mutual respect here.

[to Filipa]

Slavica is born to a mixed couple in Rijeka, Croatia. The father left wife Ljubica and children alone.

[nic]

Go Bernie! lol

[Katherine]

I just wish he hadn't escalated the rates at the Olden to such ridiculous prices!!!