Addressing attendees from PRWeek's 'Hall of Fame' (see accompanying
supplement), Haymarket Publishing group chairman Michael Heseltine gave
a rousing speech on the importance of PR, which included fond
reminiscences of his first days on the campaign trail. In the late 1950s
it appears he was bundled off to contest a seat in one of the least
Tory-friendly constituencies in the UK - Gower, in the heart of the
South Wales mining community. However, the party neglected to give him
the back-up he would come to expect later in his career. 'My support
team consisted of a girlfriend, a dog and a Land Rover,' he
confessed.
Tree-hugging
In the case of some guests, the anecdotes began before PRWeek's party
had even started.
Travelling to the bash in a taxi with Adrian Wheeler, Diary was amused
to learn what the GCI Europe chairman has been getting up to in his
spare time: surfing the net buying trees for other PR men.
Wheeler revealed that he had snapped up 20 crabapple trees from
Tree2mydoor.com ('living gifts for lasting memories') for his pal
Christopher Broadbent, Barclay Stratton founder and current Kaizo
non-executive director.
'But why?' asked Kaizo chief Crispin Manners with raised eyebrow,
further along the back seat. 'He likes them, they're for his farm,'
replied Wheeler matter-of-factly.
No Good yet
One of the first guests to turn up was former Hill & Knowlton chief
David Wynne-Morgan, who appeared very keen to catch up with another PR
bigwig, interrupting his own anecdotes twice to ask: 'Is Tony Good here
yet?'
As we enquired from Wynne-Morgan whether he thinks son Jamie (ex-H&K and
now at M&C Saatchi Sponsorship) will one day make it into a list of PR
grandees similar to that compiled in this issue, Wynne-Morgan - ever the
PR man - was keener to show that he hasn't lost his touch,
enthusiastically talking of his ongoing work for current clients.
But he did seem to think working at PRWeek sucks the life and youth out
of its reporters, and issued an ostensibly serious warning to our newest
recruit: 'You won't look like that after you've been there a few
months.'
Recalling the morning after a most enjoyable night before, Diary must
concede he has a point.
