By the time I was 16 I was well into my big school education; I’d been very happy as a Winchester Cathedral chorister until I was 12. I loved living in that intensively musical world in a massive cathedral – it was an absolute dream. I mean, at the age of eight, to be put through a voice trial, and to find that the organist of Winchester Cathedral decided I was good enough to be in the choir, that was a magical moment. Afterwards my mum and dad drove me into Winchester and said, you can have anything. I chose a pale blue Dinky Toys car transporter. It was a very brilliant day and I was very happy there. But that musical world was all over when I hit 12.
I’d say, don’t let them grind you down. I was, unfortunately, privately educated – my father was a public-school headmaster and believed in that system.
