Well, whether you see the British as over-mighty obstructionist foot-draggers or worldly-wise, thrifty pragmatists, there's no doubt that without them things will be different.

Redemption became a necessary career strategy and there is pathos in seeing a 21-year-old dispense worldly-wise advice after personal and professional struggles.

Vidal had another kind of mask: cool, suave, worldly-wise.