I had the honour of being interviewed at Ealing by local resident John Sergeant. I was paying my first visit to the festival which has been thriving in London W5 for a number of years.

John, who was the political voice of ITV as well as the BBC for a long time, and a newsprint journalist before that, had of course met Harold Wilson, the subject of my latest book. He paid testament not just to the fabled wit of the great man, but to his kindness and utter lack of pomposity.

The sell-out audience at Ealing included others who’d known Wilson or people close to him. It made for a fascinating Q&A session in which Harold’s involvement in Rhodesia, the Vietnam war and the Profumo scandal were raised along with his pipe smoking, relationship with Marcia and alleged paranoia.

Such was the interest and fascination in this remarkable politician that not a single question was raised about the contemporary political landscape.