Met him many times. Interviewed him for my radio show a couple of times too.

My anecdotes would be favourable, yet the reputation for offhandedness and elitism are not entirely without foundation. the price of genius I guess.

Mind you, I once thought it rich when I did a floor turn warming up their night at a local club, and was asked by a friend to sing a song I wrote about the Irish famine. During their first set, he looked at me and reminded the audience that people should only sing what is indigenous to themselves. I thought it a bit rich coming from a bloke called Jim from Salford, borrowing his father's Scottish accent and singing like a bloke who might have been born Ewan.

Funny how the old bugger could bring the worst out in people. I didn't hang around for his second set that night.