My good friend Piers Morgan was kind enough to give us a great plug in his GQ interview with the inimitable Marco Pierre White, a chef and a man I admire a great deal. Larger than life is a phrase invented for Marco.

Piers recalls the night we had dinner with Marco and Michael Winner in The Restaurant at the Hyde Park Hotel. It was a memorable evening in which a gargantuan meal cost more than £1,000 for four.

At the end of the meal Marco presented us each with his latest recipe book, signed personally by the great man.

It wasn’t until we sobered up the following day that we discovered he had added the cost of the books to the bill for the meal!! But then Marco never was one to miss an opportunity.

I also recall the night my wife and I ate at another of his wonderful restaurants. He asked me what we fancied to eat. “I like what he’s having,” I said, pointing at a diner at an adjoining table.

Marco strolled over to the customer and said: “Excuse me, but my friend here likes what you are having. I own the restaurant and I am borrowing your dinner. He then took the plate, brought it across and despite my protests insisted I ate the food. (The other diner, by the way was agahast, but was treated like royalty for the rest of the night).

Piers starts recording his new chat show this weekend… watch out for it. I am convinced it will be a huge success because he knows how to get a story out of an unsuspecting victim!