The decision of Jeremy Paxman to step down from Newsnight next month was noted with sadness by this column, although with no shedding of tears such as greeted the news of his retirement at the BBC. What softies his colleagues must be!

His was the first name spelt out in bold type in the first Gray Matter, published in 1998, on May 1 — the very date on which I am writing these words.

My report concerned a charity fancy-dress quiz at the Dragon School, where he served as question-master. Mine was almost the victorious team, losing by a whisker to a side led by Sir Winston Churchill’s grandson Rupert Soames. We were dressed as Canterbury pilgrims, with Rosemarie at risk throughout of ‘showing sights’ in her disintegrating hired Wife of Bath costume. Mr Paxman, I noted, had proved “a man of winning charm, with a nice line in self-mocking wit”. Other mentions followed over the years. The most recent came after I had my hair cut in Malvern by a barber who told me he had performed the same service for Jeremy during his schooldays at Malvern College.

This would have made an ideal contribution to the ‘Top Tenuous’ about the broadcaster offered on Radio 2’s Chris Evans Breakfast Show on May 1. One entry came from a chap whose fiancée washed Mr Paxman’s hair at a London hairdresser’s and found his nose bigger than she had thought. The No 1 was from Mandy: “I removed a radio mic from his tanned chest following a book presentation in Chipping Norton. I enjoyed it very much.”