Guests of Honour included Terry Jones, Lord Stockton, Colin Forbes, Sir Clement Freud, Ken Livingstone, John Timpson, Peter Ackroyd, David Lodge, Richard Charkin, Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, Ernest Saunders, Mary Archer, Ben Okri, Sir Malcolm Field, Terry Maher, Frank Delaney, Robin Page, Sue Townsend, Maeve Binchey, Malcolm Bradbury, Diana Rigg, Barry Unsworth, Edwina Currie, Sebastian Faulks, Leslie Thomas, Roger Scruton, Michael Dobbs, Jeffrey Archer, Sir Roy Strong, Kate Adie and Jonathan Dimbleby.

Anyone who earned a buck in publishing - whether editing the company newspaper or commission bestsellers, librarians, writers, booksellers, printers, designers – could become a member.

Dinners in the beautiful Old Library of Emmanuel College were limited to around 70 people. They were not black-tie, informal and buzzy, only occasionally were bread rolls thrown during our heated discussions.