Last night I attended the Rio Ferdinand bash at Old Billingsgate, to launch his foundation, Live the Dream. It was a lavish evening, and the punters certainly got value for money, with a line-up including JLS and The Saturdays. The auction raised £253,000, and the best items were a fully-inclusive trip for two to South Africa next year to see every game in the world cup (£50,000), tea with Elton
For the past week, I've been putting the final touches to And Thereby Hangs a Tale before I handed it in to the publishers on Friday; always a stressful weekend waiting to find out how they feel about it, but one that was fully occupied.I conducted an auction for hedge fund charities at Banqueting House on Thursday evening (raising £32,000), and went to a Carol service at St Paul's Knightsbridge
Yesterday, I attended my first Advent service at St Michael's Church, Chester Square. The service was hosted by Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach, in support of Christian Responsibility in Public Affairs. The address was given by General Sir Richard Dannatt GCB CBE MC, who has just retired as the senior officer in the British Army. He spoke of our troops in Afghanistan facing Christmas and the
I have in the past, done auctions for cancer research, for childrens' hospitals, even for Save the Blue Iguana, but yesterday was a first, even for Chris and myself. We did an auction at Vintner's Hall to raise money for a lavatory.... a new lavatory at Westminster Cathedral. And we raised £14,000 towards that wonderful cause! The Archbishop of Westminster, The Most Rev Vincent Nichols
Just occasionally, in the world of theatre, film or art, one gets a shock. Either something you'd anticipated would be wonderful, turns out to be a disappointment, or something you'd not heard about, turns out to be sensational - the latter happened yesterday. On my monthly culture-vulture trip, three of us went to The Sacred Made Real exhibition at the National Gallery, and were blown away. The
A weekend of rugby fixtures led me to realise that England's rugby is in a mess. Is it the fault of Martin Johnson and his coaching staff? I simply don't have enough knowledge to give an opinion, despite the fact that the press are filling hundreds of column inches saying that if Johnson doesn't go, the rest of his coaching team should be sent to the tower. The cricketers, however, had a great
The Make-A-Wish auction, held annually at the Dorchester, is without doubt the one I most look forward to, because it's the best run, best organised and most enjoyable auction of the year. The charity grants wishes to children and young people who are fighting the most terrible life-threatening illnesses - cancer, leukaemia, renal failure, cystic fibrosis, brain tumour - I could fill this post
Back in London, having completed the twelfth draft of And Thereby Hangs a Tale - a ten day break before I look through the 15 stories for the final time before handing it in to my publisher. During this 10 days, I will attempt to have a complete break - cricket, auctions, the theatre, anything to distract me, so that when I begin the final reading I'm fresh and ready.Last night I went to a
A busy weekend saw me on the train to Birmingham on Saturday to conduct an auction for Get-A-Head, a charity fighting head and neck diseases, especially cancer, which raised just over £116,000, proving there's money in the provinces, even if my London auctions have recently been returning smaller sums. The organisation of the event was brilliant, although the timing went a little astray. I
It must be the Christmas season because I had to rush to get to three events last night, having only just got off the plane from India. The first was Jamie Lumley's excellent photographic exhibition held at the Mews Gallery, which was watched over by his proud mother, Joanna, who's off to Uganda in a few days time no doubt to do more charity work. From there, I went to the Evening Standard
