WHAT WE’VE LEARNT

● Following an unhappy life of insecurity, guilt and paranoia, Gilbert Harding chose to end his autobiography, Along My Line, with the utterly bleak sign-off, “I do wish that the future were over.”

● One of Larry Parnes’ least successful protégés was Simon Scott, who lost the impresario thousands of pounds. For Scott’s utterly weird second single, My Baby’s Got Soul, Parnes commissioned a sculptor to create hundreds of plaster facsimiles of Scott’s head which were sent to DJs and journalists.

● Prior to his death, Jacobs’ professional behaviour became increasingly erratic. In one correspondence with a client, he sent a letter containing a large red pill and a note that read, “This is the unceasing source of my unquenchable vitality. Take it and see what happens to you.”