This was a curious night. Hugh Grant, the boyishly loveable, foppish actor is angry. Well, quite cross.

He believes he has had a rough deal at the hands of the press, and wants something done. Along with fellow Hacked Off campaigners John Cleese and Steve Coogan he has taken the fight to his enemies in the tabloid press in a bid to enforce greater control.

Only things have not gone well. The second half of the Leveson Inquiry has been scrapped and the Government intends to repeal the access to justice measure, section 40. And he has come to Oxford to talk about it.

He is accompanied, interestingly, by a journalist. Not just any journalist either, but one of the best: former editor in chief of The Observer, Will Hutton – now Principal of Hertford College.

Hutton is no gutter press hack, and the two get along famously – both charmingly bumbling.

The evening sees Hutton setting up easy questions for Grant to tap over the goal line. It’s all very cosy, and even when the audience are invited to quiz him, he gets a smooth ride.

While Grant is here to talk about press regulation, the audience are really only interested in him, his films, his favourite roles and co-stars and – of course – that incident he describes as “getting caught with a hooker in LA”.

Grant is admirably frank and hides nothing. He turns it into a joke which would disarm his fiercest critics and refers to the incident throughout the show – insisting it had nothing to do with his campaign. Indeed, he says, the news was not unearthed by reporters at all, but was released on the wires by the LAPD.

As a serious discussion of press freedom, the night perhaps fell short; Hutton choosing not to play devil’s advocate to any great extent. However, as a night of eloquent anecdotes, showbiz insight and polite banter it was all quite enjoyable.