Dinner with HRH

Tonight was the annual dinner of the Guild of Motoring Writers, of which I am a vice president. It was a milestone event, celebrating 70 years of the Guild. So more than 100 of us sat down to dinner at the RAC Club in Pall Mall, comprising journalists and motor industry guests, all of us in our best bib and tucker.

I was lucky enough to sit next to Richard Noble, an amazing man who is a true British hero, the World Land Speed Record holder from 1983 to 1997. He is now the brains behind plans for a 1,000 mph record bid, with the extraordinary Bloodhound supersonic car that Wing Commander Andy Green will drive on a South African desert in 2016.

During dinner Richard was telling me about the project, and the preparation for it. The intended record bid site was stony, so they employed teams of people to manually remove all the little stones strewn across the site. There were quite a few of them. To be precise, 15,000 tonnes!

Also on our table was the guest of honour at the dinner, the Guild's newest honorary member, HRH Prince Michael of Kent. He used the occasion for a surprise announcement. Britain is to have its own motor show reinstated. It will be in London, at Battersea Park, in 2016. Now that is good news!