“John Christie used to say ‘You hang your star’s hat up on a peg at the door and leave it there’ – while you were at Glyndebourne you were one of the team. In fact, he used to describe our operation at Glyndebourne as test match opera, which was rather a nice phase. It very much bewildered the Italians and other European singers and American singers but the British singers – it was good for our morale, because we felt in a sort of curious way that we were singing for England!”