Over the past 50 years, The Times Diary has provided a daily dose of mirth, gossip, innuendo and anecdote from the pens of such writers as Ion Trewin, Michael Leapman, a brace of Corens (Alan and Giles) and Hugo Rifkind.

As the custodian of the column since 2013, as well as being The Times's political sketch-writer, Patrick Kidd presents an anthology of some of the most amusing and diverting stories from the Diary's first half-century.

They include the kidnapping of Humphrey, the Downing Street cat; the time that Tony Blair was thrown in prison in New York; Dame Judi Dench's foul-mouthed riposte to a cabbie and how John Major's brother inspired David Bowie; as well as examples from some of the column's long-running series such as Apt Names, Collective Nouns and Jurisprudery.