Lord Heseltine is ‘Golden Oldie of the Year’

To Simpson’s-in-the-Strand this afternoon for The Oldie of the Year Awards (the ‘Tootys’ for short), which were presented by Sir Terry Wogan. The guest list read like a Tatler bash in the late 70s. Debonair Peter Bowles charmed anything that walked by him. Naughty Jilly Cooper chatted amiably to all and sundry about nothing and everything. Eileen Aitkens and Geoffrey Palmer rubbed shoulders with Joan Bakewell. Barry Cryer’s dirty laugh could be heard over the gentle conversation of Dennis Norden, Tony Blackburn, Simon Hoggart and Richard Ingrams.

A boozy lunch passed without incident, and then it was time to stay awake for Wogan. He began by saying that Ingrams, the Oldie’s editor, was not planning to follow the Pope into retirement. More’s the pity, he said. Wogan conceded that he had been second choice to present the awards this year; but, ‘mercifully, Stephen Fry was not available’. Fry’s self-indulgent turn at the Baftas on Sunday was the frequent butt of Wogan’s undimmed wit.