I was born in 1933 in Glasgow. My parents were both musicians. My mother, Dorothy, was a cellist and my father, David, was first violinist. With my older brother, Iain, we moved to Hampstead in 1936, when Father became leader of the London Philharmonic.

My first school there was a tiny kindergarten. All I remember is that our teacher wore mauve silk stockings and, aged three or four, I always tried to sit up close to her so I could feel those silk-clad legs.

At the end of 1939 or the beginning of 1940, I was evacuated to Scotland, and my mother came too. At first, we stayed with her sister, Margaret, then took a house in Gartocharn by Loch Lomond. I don’t remember much about my time at school there, but I always enjoyed it. I had worked out exactly how much, or perhaps how little, to do in order to get by. My reports always said, ‘Does well, but could do better.’

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