I think if you have a friend that’s tetraplegic you have to be quite chatty, because obviously the typing takes him so long,” he says, in a remark that feels like one of his jokes, but isn’t. “We’d do shots together sometimes too. His care team said tequila would be too much so he’d be on the Cointreau.” Away from the sound-recording world Jimmy enjoyed fishing and gardening. As a talented engineer he will be missed and as a fun human being he will be hard to replace. Sometimes a few tiny adjustments are all that’s necessary; if you cannot set any driver pins after a few minor tweaks then either too much or too little tension is being applied. Additionally, if you’re having trouble with one pin in particular then increasing or decreasing tension may help depending on your progress thus far. This article was amended on 1 October 2021. Some text was changed to be consistent with our editorial guidelines on references to disability. Jimmy will probably be best remembered as the senior engineer on the ‘Three Tenors Concert’ and the internationally acclaimed recording of Puccini’s Turandot with Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. However, he was also frequently involved in the setting up of new recording venues: Chicago, Montreal and Vienna (where Decca had to move from its long-established residence in the Sofiensaal to the Konzerthaus), to name but a few. The quest to find a good recording space for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra took them to no fewer than 40 locations before settling on St Eustache.

Jimmy Carr in tears at pal Sean Lock’s death as he posts Jimmy Carr in tears at pal Sean Lock’s death as he posts

He trails off and reconsiders what he’s just said. “No, I think I probably was a little bit stressed about it, a bit down about it,” he decides. “But it was probably a good thing because if things had been a bit better in my early 20s, I might not have quit my job for comedy.” Carr opens up admirably in the book about his mental health, his problem drinking and the grief he experienced when his mother died in 2001, just as his comedy career was beginning. “I found the book incredibly cathartic to write,” he says. “Especially about my mother. There’s that lovely phrase, that you die twice – once when you die, and again the last time someone says your name. So I loved that thing of being able to talk about my mum.”He laughs: “Is this making me sound like an incel elder? I did have opportunities but I was bad at reading the signs and I would friend-zone people. A lot of girls I was very, very close to growing up, we had incredibly intimate relationships, but we didn’t have a physical relationship and it was lovely …”

Sean Lock obituary | Comedy | The Guardian Sean Lock obituary | Comedy | The Guardian

He seems to mean it, too. It may not have been for me, but if the book helps anyone else reach the same level of contentment as Carr seems to have, maybe he’s on to something. Carr is estranged from his father, and mentions him just briefly in the book. He doesn’t want to say much more today but talks about “detaching with love” – having no ill feeling for his father but being unable to have him in his life. Carr became a father himself two years ago, although it was only recently reported in the media.I wonder if all this talk of wubbwubb has softened his act. “No. I’ve been writing new stuff and it’s brutal. My sense of humour doesn’t change.”