Autumnal

He may have struggled to ride the bucking bronco that is the BBC, but Lord Patten, it seems, has now sufficiently regenerated to take on bigger issues.

In October, he lectures to the Oxford Martin School on "What happens when the world loses the habit of co-operation ?"

Despite our extensive knowledge of the major challenges the world faces during coming decades, impasse exists in global attempts to address economic, climate, trade, security, and other key issues. The Chancellor will examine the implications of this gridlock, drawing on the work of the Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, of which he is a member, as well as experiences from his distinguished political and diplomatic career.

Meanwhile Alan "No win, no fee" Yentob is also girding his loins for the Michaelmas Term. He'll be interviewing Jessye Norman at the end of September as part of the Blenheim Palace Literary Festival. Jessye was Alan's one-record-only on Desert Island Discs, performing Richard Strauss' Beim Schlafengehen. The day before, in the rather more louche surroundings of the Curzon Soho, he hosts a Q&A with director Gracie Otto, about her film The Last Impresario. It's a film which features the thoughts of Alan Yentob.

Gracie's next film will be called Girls In Hotels.