“I am from BBC Scotland. Can you get me a ticket for Just a Minute?”

The gentleman who asked this gets my prize for the wittiest question asked by an audience member during the Gibunco Gibraltar International Literary Festival.

Why so? Well the speaker we had been listening to in the glorious King’s Chapel was Miles Jupp, host of BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz. He had been talking about his book Fibber in the Heat, a hilarious account of how he blagged his way on to England’s cricket tour to India by pretending to be BBC Scotland’s cricket correspondent.

It will be understood, of course, that the media organisation had no need of such a person and that Miles therefore had nothing to do, except pretend to work.

The mention of Just a Minute was reference to a special edition of another Radio 4 favourite, which was the hot ticket of the festival, indeed totally sold out.

Presented by Nicholas Parsons, still going strong at 92 after 48 years on the show, the game was played by a splendid quartet of contestants. They were the aforementioned Mr Jupp, his comedian pal Marcus Brigstocke, Dame Esther Rantzen and Felix Francis, a best-selling thriller writer (as was his father Dick).

What of Maureen Lipman, pictured below with Nicholas Parsons?

She was a lustrous presence at a number of festival events. She also showed rare terpsichorean gifts when she joined Rosemarie and me for a late-night drink at The Cuban, a bar in the Ocean Village leisure complex beside our floating hotel, the Sunborn.

This, by the way, is a palace of great luxury, a five-star superyacht hotel with 189 rooms and suites, and stylish bars and restaurants Recognised at once, Maureen sportingly allowed many selfies with delighted locals, before venturing on to the dancefloor for an enthusiastic display of her skills.