The story goes that after a concert by the late, famed countertenor Alfred Deller, a woman who had never heard a male alto before came up to him and said, "But sir, you are a—a—a—a eunuch!!"

He peered down at her from his substantial height, his beard and mustache bristling, and in his deep male speaking voice, said, "Madam, I believe the word you are looking for is 'unique!"

Don Firth