Forty years ago this month – absurdly, because it was against the backdrop of the Falklands conflict – I made my way into the Guinness Book of World Records by making the world’s longest-ever after-dinner speech.
While our gallant forces were retrieving the Falkland Islands from the invading Argentinians in the South Atlantic, in a west London hotel, at a fundraising dinner sponsored by Cockburn’s Special Reserve Port (‘ideal for everyday drinking’), in aid of the National Playing Fields Association