´óÏó´«Ã½

I met the man from the HayÌýon Wye Literature Festival this morning.

Peter Florence was over in Belfast for just 3 hours.ÌýAfter last year when Hollywood legend Tony Curtis and The Wire's creator David Simon came over, he'sÌýlooking into a possibleÌýpartnershipÌýthis year.

But whenÌýhe asked me who would I like to interview if I had the choice,Ìýmy mind went blank.

I was remembering last year.

I had been asked to do the onstage interview at the Ulster Hall with Tony Curtis. Before hand, I was taken to hisÌýdressing room, where his wife, his mother in law and his agent were sitting. Suddenly the room emptied and it was only me and Tony Curtis.ÌýHe didn't say a word. I couldn't think of any small talk. How do you bring up Marilyn Monroe when we'd only just met? And so we sat in silence until his wife, mother in law and agentÌýcame back.ÌýÌýÌý

As soon as we gotÌýon stage and he got sight of theÌýpacked house, who gave him a standing ovation before he'd even opened his mouth, he lit up.ÌýOut of the traps,Ìýhe didn't look back, ignoring meÌýfor the first fifteen minutes, thenÌýturningÌýand mischievously asking me was I going toÌýask him a question?ÌýThe crowd loved it. I loved it.ÌýÌý

Now, having never watched a single episode ofÌýthe ground breaking tv drama The Wire, a few days later, standing outside the hotel room door of David Simon I felt a fraud.

Through the door I could hearÌýhis muffled answers to another reporter's questions.ÌýThis wasn't good. I felt the weight of all the fans, chat rooms and endless websites devoted to The Wire. He would see my Wire lack of knowledgeÌýin my eyes.

All I had up my sleeve was that I was at university in Dublin the same time as Dominic ("Detective Jimmy McNulty")ÌýWest. 1986 andÌýI'm in a coffee shop off Grafton Street.ÌýI stared at him.ÌýObviously for too long as he made hisÌýgirlfriend shift seats with him so his back was to me.ÌýÌýFriends of mine who are Wire fans regularly make me tell that story so they can fall about laughing. I was mortified then and now.

The door opened and I was brought into the suite, the memory of Dominic West's back swimming in front of my eyes.

I babbled hello. He was keen to talk about his new tvÌýproject. Treme. Set in New Orleans,Ìýthree months after Hurricane Katrina. "Do you know that Beyonce is in theÌýroom next door?" I squeaked. She actually was. She was playing Belfast that night.ÌýHe was impressed. Feeling a bit more confident, I suggested maybe he couldÌýknock on her door and ask her if she wanted to do the soundtrack.ÌýI don't know if that meeting happened. But at least itÌýbought me some time before we eventually talked about The Wire. Ìý