Forty years ago today I was in my kitchen in Ibstone having lunch when I heard that Elvis had died.

I grew up in the States with his music everywhere and liked in as much as it was so popular at the time, and there are obviously many songs of his I do still enjoy today. Return to Sender is my favourite – not the rock’n’roll of his genuine prime – and when I was a small boy I used to pretend-play my guitar, sing You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog, and shake all over for my family, probably mainly my mother who will have seen my potential – for something other than guitar playing. That could have been an E chord if I’d been a few frets down….