SOME would call it name dropping - Barry Norman, wouldn’t, just rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous from the film world.

The famous chair was centre stage as Britain’s Mr Cinema took an Old Laundry audience down memory lane.

He told of drinks with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Talyor at their villa in Gstaad, he explained how ‘mate’ Peter Sellers set him up not once, but three times, and how he had a face-off with Robert de Niro after an interview because he thought the smooth Mr Norman was stirring it.

Of course, he wasn’t.

Barry, if nothing else, was a journalist with integrity.

With a great passion for film, his career blossomed as The Daily Mail’s show business editor until 1971, when, in the ‘night of the long envelopes’, he was one of 130 scribes made redundant when the Mail merged with the Daily Sketch.

He also came across as a sound family man, with a strong sense of humility.

He was never starstruck as his father was a director and leading light of the legendary Ealing Films, and famous names of film and theatre were regular visitors to the Norman household.

His own performance was seamless, a promotion for his book And Why Not.

Why not indeed?