Only Shimon Peres could announce his retirement from the Israeli presidency at the age of 90 in order to return to politics. And only Shimon Peres could make such an announcement and be taken totally seriously.
President Peres is not so much a force of nature as a man who defies it. After nine decades, he has more energy than most of us half his age. He has clearly inhaled the same air as the conductor Pierre Monteux, who in 1961 signed a 25 year contract with the London Symphony Orchestra — at the age of 81.
