Suffice to say, it was a truly well-thumbed event. A new favourite I’ll want to return to, again and again, despite its cracked spine and biscuit-peppered pages.

And best of all, there wasn’t a Kindle in sight...

The Oxford Literary Festival, now in its 16th year, was, to a Lit Fest Virgin like me, an extraordinary adventure.

Any pre-conceived ideas I entertained about high-brow intellectuals mis-pronouncing ‘didacticism’ and quaffing red wine were quickly dispensed when on the first day I got completely hammered at an event billed as a ‘Genteel Tipple Through Gin in Literature’.

Posh? Too smart for its own good? Academic and dull? No way – a five-year-old could have followed it but of course you’d have had to drink their gin-based cocktails (not really such a bad idea when you think about it...).

And so it went for the rest of the festival’s nine days.

Indeed, on the last but final night, someone asked me to sum up the week in three words... “Accessible. Refreshing. Fun,” I said.

Because, believe it or not, it was fun – like a little pup, I asked if film star Stefanie Powers would pose for a photograph with me; I deliberately strode up and shook the BBC’s Andrew Marr’s hand; I waved at film director Sir Alan Parker (why I couldn’t have just smiled will haunt me for the rest of my life); I loitered around Barry Norman, drooled at Joan Bakewell (the tablets still hadn’t kicked in) and was hugely entertained by a diplodocus.

In short, I had a ball.

True, at first I had been intimidated by the festival’s rather thick, rather solemn-looking programme, but that had more to do with laziness than interest.

After all, in nine days, more than 300 events were staged, covering everything from literature, popular fiction, children’s writing, history and biography to food, drink, sport, gardening, philosophy, science and nature. And almost all events, regardless of speaker, were priced between £10 to £15 (Jeremy Paxman, pictured below, at £10 I gathered might have been slightly over-priced). The actual list of speakers is far too long to repeat here, but had you walked the pathways and corridors of Christ Church and the Sheldonian, you’d have have bumped into Tony Benn, Sandy Gall, Alvin Hall, Robert Harris, Jodi Picoult, Philip Pullman, PD James, Bettany Hughes, Anne Tyler, Kim Newman, Kathy Lette, Alex James (oops, I’m sorry, he had somewhere better to go...) and none other than the Archbishop of Canterbury.

To be honest with you, I’m surprised Prime Minister David Cameron didn’t show his face, but then of course, neither did Obama.

What was unexpected and wonderful was that these famous authors and presenters were only too happy to stop, chat, have their photos taken, and sign autographs like neighbours catching up across the garden fence.

And not once, in my jeans and mis-matched tie and shirt, did I feel overlooked or unwelcome.

By heart, I’m a cinema man – I love hot dogs and popcorn and trailers because sometimes, yes, I do feel uncomfortable at the theatre.

But here was an event I felt at home at, because not only do the speakers themselves make it memorable, but so too (perhaps even more so) do the audiences – everyone from young mums with pushchairs to teenagers with girlfriends and older men with bright red noses who only ever seemed to attend the drinks-based events (and yes, that’ll be me in 10 years).

I’m just looking forward to the sequel...

Sally Dunsmore, director of the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, said: “It’s been a record-breaking year for the festival. We’ve had more people than ever before and we’ve sold more tickets than ever before – more than 30,000. There’s been a buzz around all the festival venues.

“When we start programming the festival, we aim to have events that get people talking. I think this year has been one of the most talked-about festivals we’ve ever had.

“We’ve had panels on everything from Test cricket and cheating in sport through religion and philosophy to leadership and politics. It’s been great to see people joining in the debates both inside and outside the events.

“There have been so many highlights this year that it is hard to pick some out. The Sheldonian was sold out for a rare appearance by the great US writer Anne Tyler, and the likes of Claire Tomalin, Jeremy Paxman and Michael Morpurgo have also been hugely popular.

“We’ve had so many wonderful speakers this year and I would like to thank them, and all the festival supporters, workers and sponsors who together have made 2012 a special event.

“We really can’t wait for 2013. The challenge for us now is to make it even better than this year.”