Richard Fidler

What happened when you arrived there?

Did you see him dance or what was happening?

And were they going to continue as part of your key roles, undressing him and making him tea?

What an extraordinary position side stage for you.

How old was Nureyev at this point?

And he was still dancing?

He was famous for being such an intense, passionate performer on stage.

Were you nervous around him at all, frightened of him, at least in those early days and weeks of getting to know one another?

You'd grown up surfing and playing rugby very far away from dance.

So how did ballet compare to the kind of athleticism you were more familiar with?

One of your roles was to massage Nureyev.

What were his muscles like at that age after those years of dance?

Did he talk much about his childhood or growing up in the Soviet Union?

What about his defection, that extraordinary decision he took at just 23 or so to leave the USSR and come to the West?

Nureyev had homes, various homes around the world, including one in New York.

Where was the home in New York?

And where was your room in this apartment?

So Nureyev, I'm imagining, was fabulously wealthy.

What was he like with money?

Was that because of his childhood in Russia and the Soviet Union?