Awards presenter Quentin Willson revealed why he left Top Gear to pursue a career with Virgin Cars. In an acerbic attack on his former BBC employers, he told diners a clash between English reserve and American brashness turned him from TV presenter to Virgin Cars' online automotive guru.

He branded the present series of the programme 'pink and fluffy'.

He told the audience: “I knew the writing was on the wall when we got a producer from America who called everyone babe and insisted our office walls be painted pink thinking it would make us more creative.