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It was 11 o'clock of a weekday morning in the mid 1980s. The doors to El Vino's, a watering hole favoured by Fleet Street's finest, had just opened.

The legendary political columnist turned to the green student and asked a simple question: "Do you like champagne, David?"

Well, yes, but not usually before elevenses. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks shadowing Alan Watkins, then of The Observer.

He had been at Amman Valley Grammar School with my father and, thirty years later, was kind enough to help a would-be political hack get a glimpse of his world - in between his lunch engagements with leading politicians of the day.

Alan Watkins died at the weekend, shortly after the election that no-one won, sadly denying his readers his analysis of the current political stalemate (although he would have remembered a historical parallel somewhere).

The tributes from the party leaders were warm and genuine. You can read them .

His was a unique style. He was credited with creating several political phrases common today such as "young fogeys", "the men in suits" and "chattering classes". The Independent on Sunday, where he wrote until recently, said he turned the political column into a literary art form.

Precise about language, he never forgot the difference between an event that was ironic and an event that was merely curious. He wrote his columns by hand with a fountain pen.

Best known as a political essayist, he was also a passionate rugby fan. Gareth Edwards was among those paying tribute

There is no other voice like his left in political commentary today.

He also paid for the champagne.

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