On 26th May the "Booked!" Literature Festival paid a visit to the Auchentoshan Distillery - a journey that had been made last year with great success.

A very interesting conducted tour of the distillery was followed by a talk given by sports presenter Jim Delahunt. Jim has had a career as an amateur jockey, and he began his talk with highly amusing accounts of how he often had to make last-minute arrangements for taking part in race meetings. These could entail some extraordinary feats of weight loss within very short spaces of time - sometimes a few hours! Having completed a B.A. in business studies from Glasgow Caledonian University, Jim turned his hand to journalism. Freelance to begin with, he took up a post with the Kilmarnock Free Press, but soon found himself working for West Sound Radio. When he became editor of a "punters" sports paper "The Daily Winner", he had put completed the building blocks of a career that has ever since combined journalism and broadcasting. Amazingly, Jim has never been interviewed for any of the posts he has occupied, having, as he said, just received phone-calls offering him jobs! He has worked for Skye, for STV (taking over as lead presenter of Scotsport after Jim White's departure) and latterly for Setanta. With the recent financial difficulties of Setanta putting jobs at risk, let's hope Jim doesn't have to spend too much time waiting for the phone to ring once again!

Jim answered various questions about current issues in horse racing and football with great wit, and all who attended had a most enjoyable and light-hearted evening.