Heads were sore in the PR offices of the country last Thursday
morning, in the wake of this year’s PR Week Awards.
Comedian Mark Lamarr gamely stepped in to host the event at two days’
notice, when the originally booked compere Jonathan Ross was taken
ill.
But the reputation of Lamarr - who hosts BBC 2’s pop quiz show Never
Mind the Buzzcocks; is a regular guest on Reeves and Mortimer’s Shooting
Stars, and who is one of the brighter lights on London’s stand-up comedy
circuit - failed to impress the chairman of the awards judging panel Sir
Bernard Ingham, who asked blankly ’Who is he?’ as the bequiffed one took
the stage.
The actual handing out of the awards was accompanied by the usual
whooping and squealing from all parties concerned (loudest tables being
Boots and British Airways), but particular mention must go to Charles
Lewis of the Royal British Legion Communications Division.
The Legion’s campaign to restore the two minute silence on 11 November
took off the prize for Campaign of the Year and, after picking up the
gong, Lewis proceeded to complete a lap of honour on stage, to
tumultuous applause. His antics manage to stun a bemused Lamarr into a
different kind of silence altogether.
Celebratory drinks failed to seriously affect Lewis’ faculties, however,
and he was spotted in the early hours of the morning still clutching his
two awards (the Legion also won the award for Best Charity or
Non-Commercial Campaign) with all the gentle protectiveness of a mother
tiger.
- If anyone mistakenly picked up a burgundy Panasonic camera on the
night of the Awards, please call Susan Goss-Clements on 0113 2440265.
