Robert seems to have inherited his dad's sense of humour, as well as his iconoclasm. «George and Robert had these silly jokes about sausages,» recalls Prue, shaking her head at the memory. «They thought the word ‘sausage’ was just the funniest word in the world. Everytime the word ‘sausage’ was mentioned, their shoulder shook. One day George came back from work with a bag in wich he had what would be the equivalent of about four pounds on pink cotton sausages. He’d got somebody at the workshop to make them. Ohm they fell about, it was the funniest thing. Or George might say, “What mark did you get in your english?” And Robert would say: “Sausages over Sausages.” It was just ridiculous.»

Robert’s sense of humour, in particular his love of word games, also derived from Lewis Carol and Edward Lear, This pair of Victorian writers – surrealists before their time  – helped to inspire Robert’s love of fun, puns and nonsense, crucial ingredientes in counter-balancing, in Wyatt’s adult make-up, what would otherwise be seen as his slightly po-faced politics. To Robert, However, there is not necessarily a disntinction. He lists Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – along with bubble and squeak, the Spanish city of Granada, the saxophonist Gilad Atzmon and the Morning Star newspaper – as one of the five things that makes his world a better place. «People will probably say, “Oh that’s his infatilism showing”, he explains, “but I think it’s one of the greatest political satires written. There’s na aspecto that becomes more meaningful as you grow older, the whole ‘off with your head’ culture. Very scary.»

Marcus O’Dair, Different every time: The authorised biography of Robert Wyatt