He even attended the Whitley Bay annual conference, held in the sort of hotel where wardrobe doors fell off in the night. I met him in a corridor: "I didn't know hotels like this existed," he said, rather faintly. His involvement appeared to be a rare example of putting into practice what he preached, but I always thought he was just being a good journalist, doing research for his columns. And imprinted on my mind any time I use a Thesaurus is his assertion that a good writer should never need one.