DE and LP had organised the graduation ball and it was a complete honour for me to travel there with them. The three of us sat on the back seat as TPR drove us through Stockbridge and then along Ferry Road. DE and LP were dressed in smart jeans and matching baby pink and blue short-sleeved cashmere jumpers. I had been in such a rush to get ready that I had run out of time to wash my hair, thrown on my cerise ballgown in a hurry, and forgotten to put on any tights. At least I had remembered my blond hairpiece. (In the end I left it behind in the car because it looked so silly.)

TPR himself couldn’t attend the party due to a business meeting commitment in Torpichen, West Lothian. Instead he dropped us off outside the main gates of the hotel. He seemed quite upset to leave us, and passionately kissed DE and me in the face of on-coming traffic. Then DE, LP and I crossed over the road and picked our way up the uneven path to the party venue, which I now recognised as Chateau Impney from a visit in the late 1980s. We were rather startled to come across a bunch of ragged school children at the top, but were reassured by their teacher that their activities were taking part in a completely different part of the building, so they would not disturb us.

I left DE and LP for a group of immediate colleagues and a tray of petits fours. The conversation was focused on the latest exploits of KT. She had written in to a fashion magazine with an idea for a feature. The editor had liked it so much that a whole section of the magazine was given over to KT’s fashion tips, including full-length photos of KT taken in a very posh hotel bedroom. I was most impressed. However, what happened next is something that only dreams are made of…

Matt LeBlanc was at the party, and it appeared that I was the one that he wanted to be with! I worked out that he was in the UK to promote the new BBC comedy Episodes, and asked him whether he considered attending the ball to be for work or pleasure. As soon as he declared that it was a work commitment I raked through my handbag for scrap paper and a pen, then asked him to sign autographs for all my female relations. He willingly obliged, taking his time to write out his name (in – it has to be admitted – quite childish writing). Other party guests around us became impatient. They were worried that their turn for time with Matt would never come. I was also concerned at what the students’ reaction would be once they spotted Matt LeBlanc in our midst. Just as we were about to go through to the dining room I noticed that Matt had forgotten to dedicate one of his autographs. To make it up to me he iced a cake. The design was hilarious: a picture of Matt’s Friends character Joey’s face in brown and green icing with the hair, dedication and autograph in swirly white lines. Just as it was finished one of Matt’s incisors dropped out. When he said that I could keep the tooth as a souvenir of the evening I wondered how much I’d get for it on eBay.