Gossip is the currency of festivals such as these. Indeed, in some ways, I think many authors attend solely to find out or pass on just who’s sleeping with who, whose latest draft has been rejected, who has been found inebriated and incapacitated in a public space and who has been arrested on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of plagiarism.

In what they call the Green Room – that’s where the great, good and uptight converge – conversation roars once someone says: “I hear Salmon Rushdie is embroiled in another controversy because his latest book is entertaining...”

What I can tell you is Rachel Johnson (sister of Boris Johnson) is always on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Maybe because she rarely turns up (last year she didn’t even attend her own talk) and maybe because many who meet her only fawn and coo in the hope she’ll serve as a conduit to her infinitely more interesting brother.

The booze is free, although I’m the only one who seems to drink it, and the biscuits are Walkers (those are the ones you get in First Class on First Great Western).

Everyone is ‘dahling’ and everyone chokes: “Oh I loved your last book.”

Because I have a 9-to-5 job, I’m generally overlooked but the stem ginger shortbreads more than make up for this oversight.

Yesterday, against every law of nature, I had to deliver an introductory speech for author Mike Carson whose talk was entitled ‘Inside the Minds of Football’s Leaders’.

When I mentioned this at work, a public holiday was announced so all could attend.

However, despite the fact I know nothing about the ‘beautiful game’, I do love it.

Not in terms of supporting a team or following a league but solely in the field of international tournaments. I love the theatre, the madness, the sheer brutal passion of celebration that precedes every 90-minute showdown.

And thanks solely to Mike Carson’s infectious enthusiasm I think I managed to convey some sense that I too had once stood on the terraces.

A Man City fan since the age of 10, Carson’s other passion is as a leadership guru and he, rightly so, felt the two subjects could be blended.

In particular, I enjoyed his recollection of Walter Smith, former manager of Glasgow Rangers, who, when interviewed for Carson’s book, ably demonstrated the two key factors Carson believes define great management – humility and the ability to demonstrate what he calls ‘unconscious skill’. And this is a prime example: Smith, after having been interviewed for the book, told Carson: “That was fascinating. I never even knew I knew this stuff.” Superb.

Incidentally, top tip for tonight: catch the award-winning Blues singer and songwriter Eric Bibb in conversation with broadcaster David Freeman in a ‘Story of The Blues’ at Corpus Christi College, 8pm.