SWINDON FESTIVAL OF LITERATURE: 'I wouldn't sleep with a Tory, would you?' you can rely on Julian to give it to you straight... in a gay kind of way.

Just a few minutes into his performance (and it was definitely Julian's show) he was playing with words like I've Got You Under My Skin.

Sometimes he gets a bit cheesed off with words especially when he can't even say "duvet" on the BBC.

But last night Julian didn't have to worry about paranoid National Lottery producers. He was free to do what he does best bawdy banter.

And his innocent interviewer Peter Heaton-Jones proved a perfect sparring partner.

Peter: "Did you have Sunday lunch with your parents today?"

Julian: "Yes I did actually. I hope you had something warm inside you too."

Julian's parents of course live in Swindon and were in the audience last night. So he sweated a bit when reading an extract from his autobiography A Young Man's Passage which listed around 20 one night stands (Morgan the Organ, an illegal Albanian immigrant, a French man with wind) and an apology to those who didn't make the shortlist.

In his early TV days Julian said four pints and a joint was de rigueur. But he soon discovered he was a natural who could deliver without being drunk or stoned. In fact it was drugs that nearly scuppered his career 12 years ago, when he made a rather crude joke about Norman Lamont (he was on anti-depressants at the time). It took a while for him to bounce back but he's well on form. There's a new dog too Fanny, who sat by Julian throughout the show.

So what is Julian up to next? Salsa dancing to promote washing powder, building a house in Nicaragua and writing a novel or second autobiography. If he's only half so engaging in print as on stage, this man will go far but hopefully no further up his own passage. An Old Man's Passage isn't very alluring.

Victoria Tagg