For those who wonder what difference the presence of a major celebrity makes at a charity do, the answer - at Monday's auction at Christie's in London - was three and a half thousand pounds. A T-shirt signed by Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas was expected to fetch about £500, when a buzz among the assembled glitterati proclaimed the presence of Mr Urbane himself. When the canny auctioneer upped the ante with the promise of a kiss from Mr D, bidding became frenzied. Said T-shirt (plus chaste kiss) went for £4,000.
But how do you get the likes of Michael Douglas to turn up at your do, particularly one with no obvious Hollywood connections? Answer: a charm offensive, according to your man, in the person of Marie Jordan, Chairwoman of CLIC - (Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood) and wife of racing maestro Eddie Jordan.
"Marie and I ran into each other in Scotland," Douglas explained. "She's aggressive in the right way." Father of a young child himself, Douglas is very much aware of the inequalities life throws up. "It's tough," he said ruefully, waving goodbye to a pale, bald lad of three with an oxygen tube in his nose (who did not take kindly to having his photograph taken with a stranger), "and I was very happy to help out."
The Jordans are "lucky enough", Marie explained, to have three healthy children, but were introduced to the charity by a less lucky neighbour where they live in Oxford. CLIC already have houses in Oxford and Bristol - the latter regularly hosting families from the Republic.
Monday's auction of "celebrity possessions" was for a similar building for the Middlesex Hospital in London.
Sporting memorabilia included a pair of Barry McGuigan's gloves and a tennis racket from Boris Becker. Eddie Jordan had contributed his favourite Harley-Davidson. He was delighted to be involved, he said, as he welcomed friends who had donated rock 'n' roll memorabilia, including Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy), Mike Rutherford (Genesis) and Nick Mason (Pink Floyd).
"Charity is difficult," he said. "But the two worlds I am passionate about [motor racing and music] are so powerful that it's a privilege to be able to help."