Another plaque unveiling at Elstree Film Studios thankfully went smoothly, with more than 100 people enjoying a laugh and a trip down memory lane on April 13.

We started these ceremonies in 1996 and I have enjoyed proposing various actors to be honoured. It has been great fun meeting such diverse characters as Olivia de Havilland and Simon Cowell.

I tend to have a relaxed approach to these events, aided by a couple of my portions of daily fruit in the form of two glasses of wine.

On this occasion our two main guests made hosting the event and the question and answer session very easy. Bryan Forbes and our guest unveiler, Lord Richard Atten-borough, proved to be quite a comedy partnership, as old friends can be, and were full of jokes and interesting anecdotes.

Bryan's lovely wife Nanette Newman is as beautiful as ever and still turning heads. It is hard to believe she was making TV films at Elstree more than 50 years ago.

Bryan recalled when he and Richard attended a Fifties film premiere and decided to liven it up by booking rooms in the Ritz Hotel. After the event they arrived at the hotel in the early hours of the morning accompanied by their attractive young wives. The hotel receptionist asked if they had booked rooms and then looking at the girls declared you can't take those ladies up to your rooms' assuming they were ladies of the night.

When I asked Richard to be our surprise guest unveiler he took it very much to heart and insisted on arriving early so he could be hidden away. He got a standing ovation when he entered the room and Bryan later told me: "It was a brilliant surprise."

The next day I had a very nice message from Bryan saying what a wonderful time he had and how nostalgic it was for him to return to Elstree where he was head of production between 1969 and 1971.

In a sense, that is what these occasions are all about, giving the audience a good afternoon of entertainment and providing our guest with a day to remember.

In this age of instant celebrity it is refreshing to meet two gentlemen who have clocked up a combined total of nearly 130 years in the profession.

Bryan enjoyed a successful career in nearly 40 movies, while directing, screenwriting and writing best-selling novels.

Richard has played opposite everyone from Steve McQueen to John Wayne, fought dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and picked up an Oscar for directing Gandhi.

However, they have remained modest, charming English gentlemen and a pleasure to meet.