... well (clears throat) ... being the humble fellow I am, I would not go so far as to say I was a 'brilliant' boy soprano, but, in my salad days, I was on occasion - in fact, on a number of occasions - invited to perform for the local gentry and other discriminating audiences. When my voice changed, I laid back for a few years, but by the time I was nineteen or so, I started performing again, getting into the folk thing. I don't think I was ever accused of becoming a 'beautiful baritone', or a beautiful anything for that matter - in fact, my singing voice was once described (by me) as a cross between those of Popeye and Long John Silver - but it was once or twice sufficient to attract the fond attention of the beautiful ....