My son rang me tonight. He and his wife live on the far side of Manchester, near Oldham, so I don't see them as often as I'd like.

They've been married 10 years but have, in fact, been together for almost 20 years. There are no children. My daughter-in-law had been married before she met my son and had had a little boy, when she was only 18, who had died at 6 months old. It's complicated but they decided against having a family of their own.

My son's a Rock star. Perhaps "star" is going a bit far but he's a very competent guitarist and plays in an AC/DC tribute band which does extremely well in a semi-pro capacity. They toured Hungary last year (the lead singer is Hungarian) and, apparently, went down "a...