Our dear Francis was indeed a hard nut to crack when asking him about his life with Avatar Meher Baba. He would generally give the asker a sort of sheepish sideways glance and look down at his hand rolled cigarette of long standing.
He would then turn to another person nearby and say something like, ‘hasn’t he read my books, I’ve spent years telling people about my life with Baba!’
In a letter to me he expounded upon this contention in a fairly firm way. I was involved in a project which would have needed quite a lot of interview space one way and another.
He told me in this wonderful letter that he would be more than happy to help in any way possible but he thought, and I quote, ‘ … I’m not very keen on being interviewed. Such interviews are usually pretty imbecilic, “tell us something about the years you were with Baba” – also would be. However, we might be able to work out something with some sense.’