George Palmer

made them fall in love with the country, and they never lost that love affair with the country.

So it was a very warm and stable environment within the family, even though they had come from such fracturing experiences in their lives.

Oh, yes, vividly.

It was the next-door neighbours.

Their eldest daughter...

was a fine pianist, even as a teenager.

They had a grand piano.

And I would go next door and sit under the piano while she practiced.

So I had a lot of music happening just a few inches above my head.

And she was a very fine pianist too, not just an amateur tinkler.

She went on to become a musician and a very well-respected music teacher, piano teacher.

So I was, from a very early stage in my life, from the age of, you know, basically months old, exposed to this wonderful music at very close quarters.

Well...

I wanted to learn the piano from a very early age, but my parents, firstly, couldn't afford a piano.

And secondly, there was a perception back then that piano wasn't really for boys.

A well-brought-up young lady might learn the piano, but a boy should be out there kicking a football.

It was only when my sister, who went to the local convent school, was offered piano lessons that I renewed my assault on my parents.

Can we please have a piano and could I learn also?

So it was when they got a piano from my sister.

But I succeeded in also getting piano lessons from a wonderful teacher who lived in the next street.