scouseology night

In fact, it was a really great night.
There were plenty of stars to spot, as some of the regular guests at the Crowne Plaza discovered as they made their way to the lifts - one girl and what I took to be her boyfriend had a whale of a time with a disposable camera, pouncing on Ray Quinn and Ricky Tomlinson (I'm sure she added more to her tally but those were the only two I saw).

Actually, I can't say anything about her pouncing on Ray as he was very popular with everyone, not least a friend of mine who will remain nameless but who demanded I introduce her, then later that I took a photo of her with the poor lad.
He and his pretty girlfriend Kirstie looked rather non-plussed as we launched into an elaborate tale about a review (not of him luckily) where a member of the public had sent in a cotton wool bud with the suggestion someone clean their ears out because they obviously couldn't tell quality when they heard it.
Still, you forget because of the self-confident attitude and the TV exposure that he is still only a teenager.
Anyway, it was Ray's night because not only did he win the 'personality' award, but he also won a trip on the Orient Express in the raffle.
There were also wins for the writers of Brick Up the Mersey Tunnels, with Dave Kirby saying a special thank you to Wirral for 'taking it on the chin'. The audience was also told: "There's no drug on earth that could beat the buzz we're feeling now, but if anyone has got anything stronger, we're on table 14."

I don't know about that, but over on table 22 Sue Johnston revealed she had got tickets to the Champions League final in Athens.
Lucky though she may be, she's not lucky enough to be able to actually go as filming schedules don't allow, so she jokingly (or perhaps not) said she was taking offers.

Among the other stars in the room were Charlie Landsborough who was with his wife Thelma, Ricky and Rita Tomlinson, Pete Price in an understated lame jacket, Dean Sullivan wearing a yellow cravat with a gold horse's head pin, Mickey Starke and his family, Eithne Browne, and Janice Long who revealed that in the 1979 she used to 'drive' Roger Phillips' knobs.
I once made Janice Long cry, which I felt bad about but not bad enough to mention it to her.
It was when John Peel died and I called her at home to ask for a tribute. Only Janice, who was cooking her kids' tea, hadn't heard her good friend had died and I was actually breaking the news to her.
Sorry Janice.
She was a lot jollier on Friday evening when she announced the Zutons had won the music award.

This was no surprise to me, as I was one of the judges and had voted for them!
All five band members turned up for the awards, which was a real coup. I have to say it took a while to recognise lead singer/songwriter Dave McCabe as he seems to have got skinnier since I last saw them at a gig.
I went over for a chat with them at their table between courses and we had, shall we say, a debate on what constituted a Scouser and the Zutons left me in no doubt that I was nowhere near qualifying.
Maybe they should be on at the Liverpool debate this Wednesday?
They also told that they'd been to an Echo entertainment awards once and hadn't won, and this was much better thank you very much!
Perhaps one day we'll be able to rectify that. The last Echo entertainment awards I went to, I was the fourth row back and had to keep looking away because Claire Sweeney's dress was far too short for the kind of dance she was doing.
Anyway, back to Scouseology.
I was sitting next to a very interesting woman called Bridget who used to live at 60 Hope Street when it was a house not a restaurant. It was a club for chauffeurs who dropped their charges off at the nearby Philharmonic Hall, but all sorts called in including Adrian Henri and a certain Mr Lennon.
She told me Adrian Henri had once said, culture is bingo in the middle of opera, and opera in the middle of bingo. Sounds like a Capital of Culture commission.

Paul Barber, of Fully Monty, fame won the achievement in film award and seemed genuinely delighted to be back in Liverpool even if he was greeted with calls of 'get em off'.
The award was presented by Ricky Tomlinson who recalled when they were both in Nice Guy Eddie and had to film in the Adelphi dressed as transvestites. Apparently there was nowhere to park so their driver tried to drop them off up Mount Pleasant somewhere.
Paul Barber was non too pleased, but when they got into the Adelphi they found it full of real transvestites over from Manchester.

Other winners included actresses Kerrie Hayes, Leanne Best, artist Frank Hendry, Anders Borg, who runs the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament, the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, and of course, a certain Mr Kenneth Dodd of Knotty Ash.
I knew it was a mistake not to go to the loo before he got up, but luckily Doddy - earlier in the evening sternly told to 'sit down' by Jane Garvey - managed to keep his acceptance speech to 20 minutes.