After going to London, he snared a work in the refrain of the musical South Pacific - and embarked on a demanding programme of self-improvement. Discharged soon after a few decades with a duodenal ulcer, and a couple of tattoos - Mum and Dad on one particular arm, Scotland Forever on the other - he embarked on a sequence of dead-conclude jobs which includes as a coffin polisher, labourer, cinema attendant and brickie. We had a couple of whiskies.