Soon after joining the Metropolitan Police in 1959 I attended a concert at the Festival Hall given by the Met Police Band and the Police male voice choir (consisting almost entirely of Welshmen.)  Although I cannot remember much of the programme, I recall a solo given by a police officer with a magnificent baritone voice.  He began a rendering of the best known setting of Kipling's poem, 'The Road to Mandalay' and was well into his stride when he stopped singing and the band and chorus stuttered to a halt.  Then, in a broad Welsh accent, and without any apparent embarassment, he announced, "Sorry ladies and gentlemen, I seem to have forgotten the words!"  After a hasty consultation with the conductor, who showed him his lines, the song was resumed without further mishap.  The point of this is that the hearts of the entire audience went out to him and the aplause at the end was long and rapturous.