Guy Fletcher’s career splits neatly into two halves, but has always been wholly about songs.

In the first half, he successfully wrote them and saw them recorded by some of the world’s biggest stars (and, in fact, by the world’s very biggest star); in the second half he defended and championed their value, campaigning on behalf of writers, first at BASCA and then at PRS For Music.

He ended a six-year stint as chairman there at the close of 2016, ...