Autumn is around the corner, but the gardenias on Nicolas Berggruen’s terrace continue to full bloom. Elsewhere, seasons are shifting. Here, on the edge of Sydney Harbour, however, summer – like Berggruen – has lingered. Not that he’s noticed. “You’d have to ask the owner,” he smiles politely when I ask the secret of his green thumb. Fresh from a Zoom call, the man dubbed “the homeless billionaire” has donned one of a handful of pullovers he once said were “all a man needed” against a grey, sullen day. “It’s so cold in this country,” he says as he greets us (it’s 24 degrees). The occasion is lunch. Berggruen tries to take it with someone interesting every day. I’ve snuck in under the wing of his real guests, philanthropists Luca and Anita Belgiorno-Nettis, intrigued to meet someone who seems to have been quietly omnipresent since arriving in January. “I just met Nicolas Berggruen!” one cultural grandee texts excitedly. “He’s very curious, he’ll ask you 50 questions,” advises another. A third had to lie down after being grilled for two hours. Loading...