Finnish pie

The public facade of propriety at the Inns of Court has cracked recently with reports in this column and elsewhere of late night revelling and rock 'n' roll at a Lincoln's Inn ball.

Recently, attention turned to a dinner at Gray's Inn, where the annual awards for the College of Law's European law student programme were being presented.

The wine flowed and European union wafted through the air.

Suddenly, before an audience of High Court judges, leading solicitors and silks, an award winner from Finland sprang to the microphone and belted out several unaccompanied verses of Don McLean's classic, American Pie.

Madonna she wasn't and there was much embarrassed mumbling among the legal profession gliteratti as they were exhorted to join in to that '...

drove my Chevy to the levy...' line.