Thank you, St Julian Scholars
Last week I had the pleasure of joining the St Julian Scholars for their autumn debate at the Royal Garden Hotel in London. The room was packed with professional hoteliers, alumni of the great hotel schools at Cranfield, Cornell and Lausanne. As with the Master Innholders Conference I learned a great deal from the assembled talent, with topics ranging from Carbon Emissions to VAT. And once again the organisers had assembled a highly distinguished panel of experts from our industry.
But the day got better. My task at Innholders Hall that evening was to entertain at dinner, something I do occasionally to augment my modest earnings at Pride of Britain (though of course this gig was for prestige rather than money) and just as I was about to give my speech entitled "Why I am not a St Julian Scholar" I suddenly became one. Paul Sadler (St J S chairman) announced that the fourth and latest person to be made an Honorary St Julian Scholar is...Peter Hancock.
It's not quite a Nobel or the Booker - but for a social climber in the world of hospitality this is about as good as it gets!