Thank you to my superb editorial team of Holly Ainley and Vicky Blunden and to all at Myriad Editions – Candida Lacey, Corinne Pearlman, Adrian Weston and Emma Dowson. Thanks also to copy-editor Linda McQueen (for crossing my eyes and dotting my tees) and to proofreader Dawn Sackett.
I gratefully acknowledge financial support from Arts Council England and research support from Pete the Temp, Sam Brodbeck and Martine McDonagh. Thanks to David Ashford for the London Zoo penguin story. Several books were vital to my research, including A Race of Singers by Bryan Carman, Coming Up From the Streets by Tessa Swithinbank, The Democracy Project by David Graeber, and Music: the Business by Ann Harrison.
I am fortunate to have wonderful first readers. Thanks to Gavin Goodwin, for sharing his experiences and providing such knowledgeable feedback and conversation. To Brendan Henderson for unqualified support and the early cultivation of a tea habit that I still can’t shake. And to Nina de la Mer for writerly chat and critique over ginger beer that was only sometimes alcoholic.
My love and gratitude to my family – my wife Orla, parents Ann and Charles, sister Katy, and newest addition Emmett. Thanks also to Dougal, Andrew, Fraser, Ainsley and Finlay for teenage days in the studio and allowing me to sneak a lyric into the book.
Finally, this book owes a great deal to the lifelong friends I made in the woods behind Hyndland train station, Glasgow.