He didn't lose his powers. He just lost interest in proving that he possessed them. I filmed a conversation with Cook and we did a good deal of incidental chatting while the magazines were being changed. More recently, in his last years, I had the pleasure of his company when he sweetly agreed to descend from his mountain fastness in Highgate and become the most adventurous guest in every season of my weekly talk show. On screen he was invariably magisterial, but off screen he was even better than that.
Most good speakers husband their resources, especially when it is getting late.
Few of them will play to an audience of one. He would give his whole wealth without hesitation. In my experience, he wasn't much of a one for reminiscence, and he wasn't kidding about his profound indifference to Establishments of all types. It would be sentimental to suggest that Pembroke, or even Cambridge, formed him. He did the same for the whole country.