Last night, with Rob driving, I motored down to London to attend a reception in celebration of Lord Avebury’s eightieth birthday a few weeks ago. It followed a concert by the London Bach Society – which I did not attend – and was held in a pretty swish joint between Regents Street and Grosvenor Square. Judging by the expression on the receptionist’s face as I strolled through the door of the Savile Club they are not terribly used to seeing a Buddhist monk there. Once the poor chap had recovered and satisfied himself that I hadn’t just flown in from another planet and that I really was on the guest list, Rob and I were allowed to make our way through and up the stairs to a wonderful room that quickly filled with a lot of very interesting and lively people. It was a stand-up, chat and circulate sort of affair with only three speeches that were all funny and inspiring. Funny because they really were funny and inspiring because they told of Lord Avebury’s incredible dedication and commitment to making things better. The first speech was by Jeremy – the first two pictures – who was the only journalist to forecast the Orpington by-election win for the young Eric Lubbock, as Lord Avebury then was. He had us in stitches telling us all about that and other of Eric’s achievements and interests and it was he who as a member of the Savile kindly hosted the evening. Then the next speech was by Eric’s daughter, Victoria, who told us about his arrest when he once stopped to talk to someone he knew who was demonstrating about something and the tee shirts she had printed for the trial that should have said ‘Lord Avebury is innocent’ but which instead came back from the printers bearing the legend ‘Lord Avebury is indecent’! Then there’s a picture of Lord Avebury himself who in his speech vowed never to retire but to keep on going for as long as he could and to keep on saying what is unpopular. And the other photos are some of the guests. Two and a half hours passed just like that. It was a wonderful evening with a very great man. Thank you very much Eric and long may you continue to be such an inspiration and example.