‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ rasps Froggatt. ‘I invited Sir John Pritchard, the conductor chappie; he has cousins in the town. But we got a call last night that he’s “unwell” and you can’t get a big name at short notice. I was bleddy wetting myself – until you stepped off the train, and I thought, He’ll do.

‘Simmonds is a big name around here. Everybody sees it on the front of their music sheets. Mr Simmonds of Simmonds as chairman of the jury? That’ll do nicely, and I’m not taking no for an answer.’

‘But I’m not in the least bit qualified,’ I protest. ‘Judging a competition calls for specific instrumental expertise. I play the fiddle and piano a bit but you know me – I’m just a commercial traveller in musical goods, a cog in the music machine.’

‘Don’t give me that,’ says the Mayor, with a hint of metal. ‘No false modesty. Your family has worked with Kreisler and Heifetz, your name’s almost as famous as theirs. You can tell a decent fiddler from a fake, a flash of talent from a teacher’s pet.

‘Anyway, you won’t have to judge the technical stuff on your own. We’re calling in two professors from Manchester. You’ll also have two council men, our head of Music and director of Arts and Leisure Services, to broaden the perspective. What you do is chair the panel and throw a casting vote only if the profs and the officials can’t agree on a winner. You’ll have six of the best under-eighteens in all England. Just pick one, declare the result before half ten and I’ll do all the speeches. Any problems?’

We have pulled up at Tawburn town hall. Waiting for me indoors are the directors of Education and Libraries who, I hope, are about to sign replacement orders for lost and damaged scores that will cover my overheads to the end of the financial year. I badly need those orders. Knowing that refusal can offend, and that offending the Mayor can have an adverse effect on library sales, I quickly acquiesce. ‘Yer an ace bloke,’ says Froggatt, charging up the steep front steps in a swirl of robes. ‘My car will call for you at six. Be there.’