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such as Isaac Newton did not fit in; the suffragettes were extraordinary women who rebelled in a way that shocked society.
    If someone feels that they have never achieved anything, remind them that each and every one of us swam in the race for life and won that race, when competing with millions of other sperm, so each one of us is pretty amazing.
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    That Christmas we bought Gary his first computer, an Atari with a memory of 8K. There were no such things as hard drives then – well, no affordable ones anyway. Gary was fascinated by the computer and could quite happily have sat in front of it day after day. I was worried about him being cooped up indoors, but he would say, ‘Mum, please don’t tell me I should go out to play.’
    When, in the spring, a neighbour told me about a school summer camp in Wales, I persuaded Gary to try it for a week as I thought it would be good for him to be out in the fresh air with other children. I watched his little face at the window of the train as it sped into the distance. Gary looked so small and alone, even though the train was full of children headed for the camp. I worried that I had made a mistake but, despite the trauma of the journey, the camp was a success. He loved the woods and the campfire, and met a young girl named Rachel Glastonbury. A few summer camps later I received a letter telling me that Gary was now excluded as they didn’t have the time to deal with him. However, he and Rachel remained close and continued seeing each other – she became Gary’s first love.
    Rachel’s brother Dan played various instruments and wasgentle and vulnerable; a few years later he took his own life at a time when he felt unable to cope. Rachel was very close to her brother and his death took a huge emotional toll on her.
    Wilson and I were still pursuing our own musical careers; I was working on combining melodies with the power of rock. Peter Vince, one of the senior figures at Abbey Road Studios, liked some of my songs and arranged for us to record them there. In the Abbey Road canteen we met Paul and Linda McCartney with their baby boy, James, and their occasional babysitter, our friend Josie Betan, who also worked in Abbey Road. Paul and Linda invited Wilson and me over to their table to see the baby but we declined as we had a man from EMI with us, who was tipsy and star-struck and we felt, likely to impose on them. In retrospect I regret this, as we were all vegetarians and I’d love to have discussed animal protection with Linda. Ray Cameron McIntyre heard the songs we had recorded at Abbey Road and invited us to his home in Hampstead. He worked hard to help us as he loved the songs, but there were other people involved and we went in a different direction. However, we remained on good terms and worked on other projects together. Ray used to write material for the Kenny Everett TV show and he had a real feel for music and production. Sadly, he died of a heart attack some years later when he was just fifty-five years old.
    Whenever I see the comedian Michael McIntyre on TV, following in Ray’s footsteps, I think how proud his dad would have been of him.
    We were contacted by manager Jazz Summers, who wanted to represent us, and he arranged a record deal for us with Mickie Most, who loved the songs. We went to RAK Studios and met with Mickie, but for various reasons we turned down the management and because of this we lost the record deal. In retrospect this was foolhardy of us – Jazz Summers was verysuccessful and went on to manage Wham! and George Michael very shortly afterwards.
    We were later offered a record deal with Warner Bros, who wanted to release an album, and the single was to be ‘Stand Up’, which was one of my more credible songs, which I was pleased about.
    We were advised to use a music lawyer, which we duly did. However, after months of discussions, Warner Brothers said it was like negotiating with Led Zeppelin and pulled out. In retrospect we