I don't ever remember hearing about this, but I've just found out that Les Reed died back in April 2017. A huge character in the music biz way back in the 1960s and 70s. Undoubtedly, Ken probably knew him well via Decca and the music biz circuit. Not unlike Ken himself, he used to be seen driving a brown Rolls Royce around Woking in the mid-1970s, bearing a special number LR 3 I think; I used to go car washing with a lad who lived down Cedar Road around that time, and he used to talk about this bloke all the time - I was too young to know or care who he was. Alas, we never got to clean his Roller; I think he had security gates outside his house and was always out working, probably up in London.

Years later I discovered that he'd worked with Tom Jones, and co-wrote and composed a couple of his biggest hits, 'Delilah' and 'It's Not Unusual' . He also wrote 'There's a Kind of Hush' which was performed by Herman's Hermits and The Carpenters.

RIP LR 3

www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/17/les-reed-obituary