EXCLUSIVE : It was a swell way to spend an evening. The champagne (and elderflower cocktails) flowed as did witty banter. At the center of it all was the imposing figure of Anthony Jones , “Agent Jones” as director Richard Eyre impishly called him, who has been like a human shield – all six foot four, probably more, of him, for his powerful array of clients including the likes of Alan Bennett, Mike Leigh, Richard Curtis , and Nick Cave, to name but a few.

Jones, 85, has retired after a career as a publishing executive and a fabled writers agent that has spanned, by his count, sixty years, and his colleagues at United Agents fêted him Wednesday night with a splendid soirée at BAFTA headquarters on Piccadilly. There was bubbly, inventive finger food such as pop -in-the-mouth steak

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