4:00 at least. That`s why he had
these dinners. And then he`d just -- he`d just read a history book or literature or something, and then he
would just -- he`d finally fall asleep wherever he happened to be. That was the way he liked it.

It was a habit he`d got. You know, these people were formed by their life as underground,
itinerant revolutionaries. And Stalin never really lost the habits of his itinerant -- being an itinerant
revolutionary. He loved that, he loved that life, really. He was born for it. And so even when he was
leader of the greatest empire in the world, he still lived in that way. But of course, on a vast scale, with 15
or 20 houses, kept staff at all times.

But anyway, to get back tohave a hangover, and they`re waiting to see if he`s going to wake up. And meanwhile, none of
them dare go in. They come and they go, and Beria meets Khrushchev, and Khrushchev -- they can`t find
Beria at first, but he`s clearly with some woman. He has got this -- at this time, by the way, he had a 14-
year-old mistress, a gorgeous 14-year-old mistress.

MONTEFIORE: Oh, well, he was 53, 54. And she was kept in all the finest houses, and she had
her own driver. You know, this was sort of -- you know, this was really -- wasn`t a very communist life they
were leading by this point. You know, this is really about privilege, about a ruling class.

But anyway, they finally found Beria. And he said, just leave