YOU are organising a top-notch social function; you've got the food right, the bar is all set up, the venue is perfect -- but how do you keep your guests amused after the coffee and petit-fours have been dished up?

Simple, just click onto Speakers Corner on-line, a national directory of after-dinner speakers organised by region.

On the Lancashire site, for example, a chap called Peter Butterfield offers his services, including a "humorous talk on experiences in the regional press", who is "suitable for mixed audiences". Name rings a bell, but I can't quite place it.

www.guestspeakers.co.uk