RTS Legends Lunch

Cilla Black, the singer and much-loved television presenter, has died.

Black’s showbiz career began in the clubs of Liverpool, where she often sang alongside her friends The Beatles.

It was John Lennon and Paul McCartney who wrote Black’s first single, Love of the Loved, which went to number 35 in the charts. However, it was her version of Anyone Who Had a Heart, originally recorded by Dionne Warwick, that propelled her to number one and set her on the way to becoming a national treasure.

Alastair Stewart may have hosted British television’s first political leaders’ debate in April 2010 but, more often than not, it was Jeremy Paxman who had the last word at a rumbustious RTS Legends lunch in May.

Steve Hewlett was the ringmaster at this highly entertaining event, which sought to bring an insider’s perspective to the recent general election.

For much of the time, the two TV anchor men agreed to disagree. Paxman was as cynical as Stewart was enthusiastic. Maybe he’d recently attended a positive-thinking course.