knife and required Cooper's money or his life. Like most people in France in those days, Cooper carried two purses, one with change and one with large bills. He handed over the first, infuriating the robber, who demanded more money and stabbed him several times. Cooper pushed back his intestines and dragged himself towards the city, his training as a medic proving very useful; against all odds, his cries for help in that lonely area were finally heard, so he could be saved, although he had lost much blood and his intestines were heavily damaged. The culprit was arrested and claimed to have been resisting a sexual assault. In 1974, about 20 small paintings by Picasso, Braque and Gris were stolen from his house; Cooper dismissed his old housekeeper and in consequence lost the respect of his neighbours. Afterwards, he relocated to Monte Carlo, mainly for safety reasons, where he led a rather secluded life. Both incidents were reported by major English and French newspapers. Old age In the summer of 1965, Cooper had organized a large exhibition in Toulouse called Picasso et le Théatre in amicable agreement with Picasso and published the book about this subject two years later. However he was not pleased with Picasso's late work. As a protest against praise in the French art magazine Connaissance des Arts, he made sure that a letter to the editor was published after the death of Picasso in 1973, where he declared: Although it looks like he might have wanted to come to terms with the Tate Gallery at the end of his life (in 1983, he organized the exhibition Essential Cubism for them), he never overcame his aversion to England. In particular, he did not esteem any art produced in his native country. In a letter to the editor of The Times, he declared in 1980: Towards the end of his life, he was honoured by being appointed the first foreign patron of the Museo del Prado in Madrid, which made him very proud. In gratitude, he donated his best Gris to the Prado, Portrait of the Artist's Wife from 1916, and a cubist Still Life with Pigeons by Picasso. His only other donation went to the Kunstmuseum Basel; the Tate Gallery didn't receive anything. Cooper died on 1 April 1984 (April Fools' Day), perhaps completely fitting, as he predicted. He left an incomplete catalogue raisonné of Paul