I’m grateful to Joe Campbell who for 15 years had me record his West Sound Burns supper for radio. The biggest such event in the world, it was honoured with a star cast, from ex prime ministers to leading clergy and celebrities.

For me the highlight was always Tom Fleming’s recitals of Burns’s poetry. That combination of the bard’s genius and the actor’s electrifying delivery is as good a thing as I ever heard. Like Joe I don’t read a Burns poem now without hearing Tom in my head. He died last year and so an exquisite voice which graced the weddings and funerals of royalty will be no more.

Fortunately I have it preserved for posterity. As the original broadcast tapes from the Burns suppers are probably gone - and a record company chose not to use Fleming’s recitals in its commercial release from these events in favour of a studio version which pales by comparison - then this is possibly the only remaining record of these powerful and I suggest important performances. Indeed they may be the greatest recorded examples of Burns’s poetry in existence.