Where are you now and what can you see?

As the BBC recreates the pairing of Bailey and The Shrimp, Mike Higgins recalls meetings that defined the decade

Kelner's View

Jeffrey Archer, who has been the subject of plenty of political send-ups himself, tells Charlotte Cripps why he wants to give his collection to the nation

Almost from the moment that John Yates joined Scotland Yard in 1981, many of his colleagues in Britain's largest police force believed it was only a matter of time before he became Commissioner.

My parents were... my father was a printer, my mother was a journalist and local councillor. I think that possibly influenced my writing career.

Attend the words of the art establishment. "What makes Lowry so popular is the same thing which stops him being the subject of serious critical attention." Chris Stephens speaking, on ITV's documentary Looking for Lowry, shown last week, Chris Stephens being curator of modern British art at Tate Britain. A nasty job, making sure that no popular artist is exhibited, but someone has to do it.

Ten of these short stories are marked with an asterisk, to indicate that Jeffrey Archer didn't invent them; they were told to him by other people. The remaining five are "the result of my imagination". An interesting divide, especially as the majority of the stories told to him seem to concern cons and money, and the ones he made up flash their outcomes on huge neon signs from the outset. (The protagonist of "Blind Date", for example, is a man who is blind, chatting up a woman in a café. And can you guess, when she leaves, that she, too, turns out to be... No, I won't spoil it for you.)

To a gala dinner celebrating the 80th anniversary of the famed Foyles literary luncheon, where I learnt a thing or two about the perils of book signing (which, naturally, I'm filing away for future reference). "The worst thing about being an author," a tired and emotional Tara Palmer-Tompkinson assured me as she arrived, "is having such a bloody long name. My book signings take ages!"

Presenters race to pin on remembrance flowers early – before two-week appeal begins

We begin with gravely distressing – though unimpeachably exclusive – news from the High Court, where the first libel-related contempt case in memory seems imminent.

Former MSP Tommy Sheridan "couldn't afford" to pull out of his legal proceedings against the News of the World, despite admitting to party colleagues allegations made in the newspaper about his private life were true, a court heard today.

Books
I have just read 'Up at the Villa' by Somerset Maugham, which has been re-issued by Penguin. It's set in Florence in the late 1930s and has a wonderful atmospheric feel, reminding us how very stiff upper-lipped the British used to be. It's fun.

An alternative take on the election