One of Farouk's mistresses, Irene Guinle, who was his "official mistress" in the years 1941–43, described him as something of an immature "man-child" having no interest in politics and given to childish behavior like making bread balls at restaurants "...to flip at the fancy people coming in and watch how they'd act when he hit the mark. How he roared with that laugh". Guinle in an interview stated: "Farouk never wrote a letter, never read a paper, never listened to music. His idea of culture was movies. He never even played cards until I made the mistake of buying him a 'shoe' and teaching him how to play "chemin de fer". He got hooked on that. Farouk was an insomniac. He had three telephones by his bed, which he would use to ring up his so-called friends at three in the morning and invite them to come over to his palace to play cards. No one could refuse the king".