It was the memorial service for Nicholas Goodison at St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. He had chaired its art advisory committee which led to the selection of Shirazeh Houshiary to design the East Window. Oddly, I was on that committee, but missed the crucial meeting.

Sometimes, memorial services are a bit impersonal, but this felt deeply personal, as if he had chosen the music himself – perhaps he had ? – including César Franck, Messiaen, and a specially composed short voluntary for the baroque trumpet by Peter Maxwell Davies. He chaired the National Art-Collections Fund, the Burlington Magazine, the Crafts Council, the Furniture History Society and National Life Stories (I’ve probably left a few out). But he also liked salmon fishing and photography. It’s easy to forget that his professional career was as a stockbroker-turned-banker.