Colin (Purbrook) taught me a great deal about the daily realities of a musician's life.  Shirley and I were once having supper in a West End restaurant and lo, there was Colin playing piano for the punters who, predictably, were totally ignoring him.  [...] As we always we do in these situations, we applauded each piece as loudly as possible, even encouraging one or two notional attempts at clapping from people at nearby tables, though mostly their hands didn't touch.