I never got over the sudden end of Nic Jones' career. I would scan Don Frame's Folk Diary eagerly every week, looking for his appearances. He was developing rapidly and, by great good fortune, his repertoire of new songs had been captured on cassette by his fans.

Jim Croce was a great loss too. He also had a collection of great new songs - and I didn't know if I would ever hear them again. It turned out that he had just completed a new record - though that was little consolation.