Like any teenager in the 1960s, when The Beatles and Rolling Stones appeared I had to get a guitar, though I soon found that I preferred Bob Dylan and folk music. I hacked away on guitars for most of my life. When I retired, I was able to get a nice Gibson acoustic and a Fender Telecaster.

But then I joined Cross Gates Good Neighbours, an older people’s charity in East Leeds. They said, “We’ve got a Ukulele Group.” So I said, “I’ll join it.” I bought a uke and began to learn about its history. How Portuguese migrants who arrived in Honolulu in 1879 brought their traditional small guitar-like instruments. How the Hawaiians were enchanted and combined features from different instruments to invent the ‘ukulele’, which is thought to mean ‘jumping flea’. How the special tuning of the ukulele (‘re-entrant tuning’) makes it much more than a ‘little guitar’ – it creates many opportunities for playing and it was crucial to George Formby’s infectiously syncopated style on the banjo ukulele.

In the 20th Century the ukulele moved to California and then became a craze throughout America. The 1920s were its golden age, when it featured on No. 1 hits like ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ by ‘Ukulele Ike’ in 1929. At this time, wonderful instruments were built by great craftsmen using the finest woods like mahogany, maple, rosewood and ebony. Some have survived nearly 100 years and are still just as playable today. These ‘vintage’ ukes have never been surpassed. They can sell for several thousand pounds and I’ve become a collector myself as well as a member of the George Formby Society. My guitars now take a back seat and I’m an all-round ukulele enthusiast and aficionado.