As a youngster learning piano, I used to enjoy switching to Russ Conway's compositions as a change from the classical pieces that I was expected to learn.

He also wrote at least two more classically-oriented pieces, one of which was "My Concerto for You", and another was, I think, "Concerto for Dreamers". A bit cod Rachmaninov, but pleasant tunes. These seem to have vanished into oblivion, as I've never come across them on any reissued CD of his work.

Two other things that stick in my memory about him: he was missing one joint of a finger, and his real name was, I think, Trevor H Stanford.

Oh, and yes, I met him as a kid in the late fifties when he appeared on the "Billy Cotton Christmas Show" at which I was a small and insignificant member of the audience!

Hope he pulls through.