One of the curious things about Oxfordshire’s first big festival of the summer, is that it has always prided itself on its lack of ‘cool’.

Cornbury, or ‘Poshstock’ as it has come to be known by those who love this rarefied three-day gathering on the edge of the Cotswolds, has never tried to be remotely trendy. Acts are selected to appeal to its middle class clientele, with just enough treats to keep us amused, without scaring the horses.

But something funny has happened. Despite his best intentions – and the choice of headliners Tom Jones, Billy Ocean and Razorlight – festival director Hugh Phillimore has created something so diverse it has accidentally become hip.

Take this year’s ‘glorious’ 12th instalment, which featured achingly cool Americana act The Felice Brothers, fellow country artists The Shires and Ward Thomas, avant-folk acts Moulettes and Paper Aeroplanes, the delicious Larkin Poe, Motown legend Martha Reeves, and Staxs Soul starring a stunning Joss Stone, and hip comedians Katherine Ryan, Joe Ycett and Aisling Bea..

It was dynamite – and that’s before any mention of the weekend’s best set: The Trevor Horn Band. Featuring the eponymous producer (a man credited with inventing the ‘80s), 10CC’s Lol Creme, Stephen Lipson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Cher, Grace Jones) and The Police’s Stewart Copeland, the production supergroup hammered out gold-plated, spine-tingling versions of their greatest hits – with everything from The Buggles’ Video Killed The Radio Star to Frankie’s Relax, via The Police’s Message in a Bottle, t.A.T.u’s All the Things She Said and 10CC’s I’m Not In Love. It was sublime; the best moments coming with a guest appearance by Seal singing Kiss from a Rose, then piling into the crowd for a rendition of anthem Crazy, which had every arm in the field held aloft.

The same could be said for Sir Tom – with a back-to-back show of hits presented in chronological order from his days as a Valleys crooner through the Vegas years to his reinvention as a dance club icon and born-again gospel singer – finishing just as the heavens opened.

But for all the talk of Tom, if I were going to throw my pants at anyone, it would be Mr Horn... with an extra pair reserved for Hugh Phillimore, for accidentally creating one of the hippest events of the summer.