"it was not meant as a derogatory comment but as encouragement to sing!"

I think most of the people present took it in that way, Ray. He was amongst friends and knew he could get away with it, in fact, those who loved him loved him even more. He really did hate audience disengagement. Of course he did piss some people off as well, as I've always acknowledged when I've written about him.

In response to Henry's comment, I remember the moment when I introduced Peter to my Mum, who had seen a performance of the Transports and loved it. "Oh, so you're the man that wrote The Transports... I hope you made a lot of money out of it!" Peter clearly didn't want to upset an elderly lady, and his wan smile was tragic to behold.