Wines and rhymes with Felix

Wine, poetry and Felix Dennis take to the road this week on an unique tour. Felix is – as well as being the proprietor of both The First Post and The Week - a very affable fellow whose first exposure to fame came with the Oz Obscenity trial at the Old Bailey in 1971. He and his colleagues were initially sent to jail but quickly released, after a public outcry. (The sentences were quashed on appeal). I was a teenager at the time and he was one of my heroes – though he wasn't in my parents' pantheon!

As well as creating and owning a magazine empire, Felix has also become a well-known poet and something of a fine wine connoisseur. His poetry is colourful, topical and his latest book of verse, Homeless in my Heart, has just been published. Hence the tour, and the unique element: free wine for all those who come to the readings.

I went to a preview night last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the poetry – and the free wine, which was of a remarkably high standard, just as it will be for the rest of his tour: excellent Sancerre, Puligny Montrachet, Aloxe Corton and Chateau d'Angludet, to mention but a few. All the wines were chosen by Felix from The Week Wine Club. An evening of splendid political incorrectness, and a rare treat to hear good verse on stage with a glass