I have to be honest and say the selection was mostly driven by the fact it was a non-musical event and therefore culture of a different sort.

As the night approached I must also confess to limited enthusiasm.

But from the moment Andrew Motion started speaking the evening developed in a way I had not expected. I was completely absorbed throughout.

Andrew Motion took over as Laureate from the late Ted Hughes. Tradition dictates that the tenure is for life. Uniquely Mr Motion only accepted his appointment on condition that he was excused after ten years, and it seemed he was less than a year from parole.

He started by reading a passage from his autobiography In The Blood, and had the audience riveted. As the evening progressed and Mr Motion read new, unpublished pieces I started to get a feel for the man.

Intelligent certainly, thoughtful, self effacing and quite shy. I felt he considered public readings an inevitable burden that went with his position and not something he was completely comfortable with. Having said that he held the audience completely from start to finish and, for a man who claimed he could not write humorously, I found myself laughing on several occasions, not least when he described Tennyson's sister Cecilia as being "as mad as a meat axe".

The highlight of the first half was an outstanding piece called Harry Patch, about the life of the 110-year-old First World War veteran. The second half was questions and answers and he gave open, honest and articulate answers. One question relating to poet Philip Larkin developed into a revealing insight into Andrew Motion's relationship with him that fascinated the 150 or so audience.

An unexpectedly enjoyable evening with a gentle giant of the poetry world.