Backchat was delighted, and more than a little excited, to attend the inaugural In the Pink charity ball, hosted by Equity at the salubrious Café de Paris in Leicester Square last week.
Braced for an evening of insurance banter, it proved instead a rather racy affair with all the great and the good (and the not so good), in tow – including Caprice, Lisa Scott-Lee (aka the brunette from Steps), Jodie Harsh, and Kelly Osborne.
Backchat meanwhile found himself seated amongst the likes of Loreal, ID magazine, a hairdresser called Stuart, Jensen Button’s neurophysiologist (once given a lift by Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari) and Konnie Huq - she of Blue Peter fame (and for whom Backchat now carries a torch - even if she has passed hers).
Despite the lubrication and titillation, which included a fashion show and the cast of Chicago doing a couple of numbers (not to mention the typically underwhelming antics of Osborne and token friend to rouse the crowd) the auction did not solicit the orgy of bidding that was widely expected. But not for want of quality prizes, such as the “acid rain proof” Renault Twingo with a year's free insurance (“so you can crash it for free,” observed Huq) and a trip to Richard Branson’s Pacific island, described by the compare as “like the Isle of Man with palm trees.”
Backchat wonders if an evening with burlesque legend, Catherine D'Lish – who left the audience aghast with her strip-tease routine and subsequent soapy bath – might have persuaded a few of the attendees to part with their hand-earned cash.
But one celebrity who was notable for her absence was Paris Hilton, heiress and 'actress'. She was due to attend but arrived in the UK a day late - far too fashionably late even for Think Pink.
Initial estimates suggested the event, held to celebrate Equity’s product for women with breast cancer, had raised well in excess of £40,000.
