LAST NIGHT a tweeded and bow-tied A. A. Gill amused a capacity crowd at St Stephen’s Church.

The Sunday Times writer and QI’s John Mitchinson spent the evening discussing the role of the critic. Gill said he felt that his duty was first and foremost to entertain his readers, and that he is not in the least bit troubled if he hurts someone’s feelings, say a restaurateur.

Among other anecdotes, Gill recounted the time he met Caitlin Moran, whose journalism is known for being jolly and upbeat.

“Caitlin, who I don’t know, but admire very much, came up to me at an awards ceremony,” Gill recalled. “She said, ‘you always write about what you hate, but what do you love? what do you love?’ And in actual fact, I couldn’t think of anything.”

He did in fact say that he loved television and loved being a newspaper hack.

In the audience were Cerys Matthews, Gill’s partner Nicola Formby, Steve Abbott (whose band UK Decay was signed to Crass Records back in the day) and some young people.

Here are few pics from Dirk Lindner.