On December 8th to an event at Daunts bookshop in Holland Park, celebrating five years of charity Give A Book with whom I hope to be working in 2017. Patron Lady Antonia Fraser, trustee Victoria Gray, Simon Jenkins, Paul Johnson, Felicity Kendall were some of the guests. Steve Whitmore the policeman who started Books in the Nick was there in uniform, but wearing rather unpolicemanlike shiny black, pointy shoes. He blew his whistle – “It’s the first time I’ve ever done this!” – to get people’s attention before some short speeches. Lovely to chat briefly with 89 year old Shirley Hughes, friendly and upbeat. “I’ve been asked to do another Alfie book,” she told me, “He never grows up you see.”
