It may well have been another time, another place and a very different world when Sir Robin Knox-Johnston sailed solo around the globe in his 32ft wooden craft Suhaili, but not many days pass when he does not spare the gallant little ketch a thought.

Last night I met him at the Royal Geographical Society in London’s Kensington Gore and asked him if she would need re-fastening.He looked at his watch and said: ‘In about one hour and twenty minutes she will be arriving at Burseldon to have the work done.’

Sir Robin then popped out for a quick fag leaving me with his companion, Julia Stewart who told me that she is not a sailor, but instead a keen tennis and golf player. ‘So he goes off and does his sailing and I go off for a round of golf. It works out very well,’ she said.

As Robin returned it was difficult not to notice how fit he is. A man twenty years his junior would be happy to be so erect and flat-stomached. The knight’s secret is chopping logs for the fire at his Hampshire home.

He joined Dee Caffari, Mike Golding and others, to be feted by TV adventurer Bear Grylls, dressed fetchingly in pink, to be made members of a new adventurers’ club, run by champagne producers Mumm.