I couldn't find my copy so Mike brought me his to borrow - incredible stories - Decca was founded in 1929, at the very start of the Great Depression, and there is a lesson or two to be learned from it about music today.

Anyone know where his long time secretary Anne Hemsley is today, if still alive?

She was a great friend and ally in my 70s and 80s Decca era.

He made the same mistake as Guy Hands almost 80 years later: he bought into the record industry shortly before the bottom fell out.

But Lewis (who was a stock broker) found the right formula to save his company and revive the record industry: cheaper prices & promotion.

Sir Edward was my mentor and dear friend; when he discovered the boy at No1 was at Trinity Cambridge (his alma mater from decades earlier) he insisted on meeting me and we not only became close friends but I ran his company for him a couple of times and he offered to give it to me on his death bed.

I refused as the condition was that I had to run it for the rest of my life and I hated being tied down (now, older, I wish I'd accepted).

His widow Jeannie sent me birthday cards until a couple of years ago (when I think, sadly, she passed away in Northern France).

What does the title "No CIC" mean?

No Commander In Chief!

Correction - the last chapter, The Future, written in 1956, condemns the Capital Issues Committee (C.I.C) which stopped immediate purchase of foreign currency (like dollars) over £10,000.

Such financial moves needed to be sanctioned by the Bank of England or Treasury.

Again, oddly appropriate considering the recent lack of restrictions on banking and loans.