The Opera House was full and the orchestra was waiting for us. We went straight on and as I began the great cadenza, I felt the strength coming back to me, although I must confess I felt very ill. I put my whole heart and concentration into the music and, staunching the blood during the ‘tuttis’, we managed to get through and end with a great flourish. The audience, who had had to be told as we started fifteen minutes late, gave me a fantastic ovation with shouts of ‘British Grit’.