But what I had begun to realise was that I really liked paint, and specialist shops (whatever they sold) with time for everyone. Which made that John Travolta line in Saturday Night Fever – “There must be more to life than working in a paint store” – problematic. It seemed like a noble calling to me.

I’d heard that The Netherlands was the world’s capital of paint and had been since the 17th century, so I went from New Amsterdam to Old Amsterdam, and by some good fortune met a 'rock n roll paint maker' called Hans , and he helped to develop my own paint brand, Siècle. The idea was, we’d make the paint there, and sell it in London – at my first shop in Clapham and eventually (thanks to an inspired buyer) through Liberty’s (the first range of paints they’d ever stocked).