Diary – 26 July 2003

I am invited to the Oxford Union to speak in the last debate of the term. I had originally been invited to speak on the death of feminism earlier in the year, but as I couldn’t go they kindly invited me back. The motion is less onerous – ‘Life is too short to drink cheap wine’ – and I am speaking for, along with Peter Stringfellow, among others. I have been preparing for weeks, soliciting everyone I meet for jokes and anecdotes, and obsessively honing my speech. Two days before I’m due to speak I make the mistake of running the final draft past three of my friends at dinner. They think it’s so bad that they tell me they’re going to send a hearse down to Oxford to pick me up afterwards. In the event, the evening goes well, and we win the motion, although the highlight for me is seeing the president of the union drink seven tumblers of extremely cheap wine in the space of 20 minutes, and then witnessing a slightly wayward priest trying to wrestle a mobile-phone number out of Peter Stringfellow. I think he wants to visit one of his clubs (at least, I hope he does).

The Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence is not only recognised as the best restaurant in Italy; it is also the place that encouraged Alain Ducasse to take up cooking. I’m there to meet Gela Nash-Taylor, who owns Juicy Couture, the hip American clothing company. She is married to John Taylor, the bass player in Duran Duran, and I end up having lunch with the entire band (it turns out to be John’s 43rd birthday). The meal is so extraordinary, and there is so much of it – bocconcini di rombo, branzino alla plancia, ravioli farciti con cipolle brasate, petto d’anatra con mela al timo, etc.