In any civilised society, I always think apologies are important. The secret of a good apology is that is should be prompt, heartfelt and unequivocal. Not like the one I once received that ran ‘I’m sorry if I’ve done something wrong, but I haven’t.’

Whereas a good apology would have had me counter-apologising, instead I ended up frothing at the mouth.

However, it’s one thing to apologise to someone close whom you know you’ve hurt or offended, it’s quite another to make a general apology to a group whose names you don’t even know. How to do it?

Well, back at the time of the Millennium a Cardiff accountant with a penchant for folk dancing seemed to have found the answer. After a particularly riotous night out, he paid £150 to place the following advert in the Western Mail newspaper and apologised publicly to :

"the entire staff of the Cardiff Hilton Hotel, several city centre landlords, the residents of Prospect Drive, a man called Toni at a fish bar, two passing police constables and the council cleansing department".

It must have been one hell of a night out!