Ruth, you jogged a few memories. My friend and I used to do Lal & Norma Waterson, can you believe the cheek? (We were old enough to know better too.) Our world premiere - and one and only public appearance - was Leicester Square tube station. All other times we confined ourselves to her flat, so at least some good sense prevailed. It was fun, though. We never did work out which of us was Lal and which was Norma.

Re Kate - I like her singing, I respect her talent, I certainly admire her spirit and enterprise to go out and DO things instead of sitting around dreaming about it, and (there's no "but"): in some songs my favourite version is hers, while with a few others I prefer someone else's performance. (How many artists is that NOT true of?) I certainly don't question her right to sing anything she wants to, or think less of her if I happen to like another rendition of a given song better. Why does she inspire such blanket judgements? Hello-cyberspace-earth-calling: All Rogthedodge did in the initial message was say he liked something, and try to share it.

PS: Without Kate I would never have been turned on to fabulous Andy Cutting (I don't live in Britain) so top marks there too. Successful artists can nourish other artists, a point which too often gets overlooked.