After a double disappointment on the sporting front, what a relief it was to end the weekend on a high note with something at last to celebrate. The award of South East Curry Restaurant of the Year to Aziz, in Oxford's Cowley Road, was a source of huge delight to the lucky guests of owner Aziz Rahman at London's Grosvenor House Hotel for the big event. There were 19 of us - both family and friends, some of whom are pictured below - whose whoops of glee echoed round the ballroom as the big moment came.

Organised by Spice Business, the event was compered by Chris Tarrant, a man who, for me, gives celebrity a good name. Far from simply arriving to pick up his (doubtlessly fat) fee, he showed exemplary understanding of a complicated programme. His assured handling of the evening revealed that proper homework had been done.

It was a great pleasure, too, to be reminded of the talents of broadcaster James Whale, one of the competition's judges. His irreverent late-night television programme set the style for the sort of pale imitation now supplied by the likes of the underwhelming Jonathan Ross.