I've known Nicholas Parsons for a fairly long time and his geniune pleasures are in rubber tubes, metal clips

To barbecue is a way of life rather than a desirable method of cooking.

If you mind losing more than you enjoy winning, don't bet.

There's no law that decrees when not to whinge, but you reach a certain age - 80 seems about right - when you're expected to manifest querulousness - the coffee's too hot, the boiled egg's too soft.

Wine buffs write and talk as though the food and wine will be in your mouth at the same time, that one is there to be poured over the other. This is bullshit. Gustatory enjoyment comes from food and wine and cigars of your liking. So far no one has said that a Monte Cristo is the only cigar to smoke after Armagnac, Romeo and Juliet after Calvados ... but the time may yet come.

I find it hard to say, because when I was there it seemed to be shut.

Breakfast is a notoriously difficult meal to serve with a flourish.