Unopened bottles of champagne

Overheard thought it a little odd when Caroline Hardiman, press relations manager of Misys General Insurance, asked to take the unopened bottles of champagne following a press event at the London Eye. However, Overheard's suspicions were allayed when PB later won a bottle.

Derrick Cole, former president of the British Insurance Law Association, encouraged attendees at its annual conference to see Calendar Girls and buy the associated calendar. His son, Nigel Cole, directed the movie and part of the proceeds will go to the Leukaemia Research Fund.

Overheard was also charmed to hear that Patrick Snowball, executive director of Aviva and chief executive of Norwich Union UK, had commandeered someone else's office for a meeting as it is much bigger than his own. Good to hear that the head of the company didn't bag the office from the start.

Overheard also saw David Parry, business development director of Zurich, this month, who recently had a revealing conversation with a well-known broker. Apparently, the broker was surprised to find their client wanted a comparison of market products and prices, but reflected: "It was really interesting, I've never done it before."

Finally, Overheard was happy to see Adrian Beeby, head of media relations at FWD Financial Services Marketing. Overheard was overjoyed to hear that Beeby is a member of the Monster Raving Loony party.