First Christmas party of the season at the Churchill War Rooms (my main conclusion about which is that the place must have properly pen and inked when it was full).
All good fun, but at dinner I had the misfortune to be sat next to the most extraordinary fellow. He was unable to converse in anything but a full-throated shout (despite the fact that he was no more than two feet away from me) and apparently thought nothing of shouting across me at my other neighbour while I attempted to eat. He also ate like an animal, hunched over his plate with his face no more than six inches from his food.

The man was to all intents and purposes sub-human.