Thanks for the replies - VN's was the approach I took, opening the equirect in PTgui & using the numerical transform tool to bring the poles to the centre of the image, then editing the offending area in Pshop and then reconverting it to a normal equirect ready for krp.
Here is the link. The venue is more interesting than my corrections to the mauve ceiling light.
http://www.john-law.net/projects/current/rlg1/index.html
The event was a conference on the inventions of Richard Gregory FRS held at the Royal Institution in London. The lecture theatre is the one where Faraday himself gave lectures and the speaker is standing at the 'Faraday Desk' The audience are mostly neuro-scientists with a couple of us artistic types and some journalists.
bw
JL