I first met Nick at Leeds University along with Steve Warrington, Mike Greenwood, Dave Harkess, Pete Bensimon and many other remarkable characters.

In the early seventies, I lived near Nick in Harehills Avenue, Leeds, and have pleasant memories of Pickles and I taking Sammy, Nick's mischievous dog, for walks in nearby Gledhow Valley Woods. Sammy seemed to have developed many of Nick's traits and was forever examining every new thing he came across with great excitement and stubbornly refusing to obey any instruction.

Nick's genius with music and his mastery of the instruments he played has already been mentioned but one of my warmest memories of Nick is of a different flavour. One sunny afternoon I tentatively asked Nick if he fancied a game of tennis. To my surprise, he immediately agreed. We grabbed a couple of rackets and set off for the tennis courts at nearby Potternewton Park. It soon became apparent that he was a really good player. He seemed to glide effortlessly across the ground to return the ball and all the while wearing a huge grin on his face. It turned out to be a great match. I've no idea who won - probably Nick; I had not realised that Nick was as good an athlete as he was a musician.

Great memories