While not quite the career destroying disaster that some people made it out to be, 2001 was definitely a testing time for Neil Hannon. His Re:Generation album, stiffing got it off to a bad start; the break-up of The Divine Comedy made it even worse; and, well, we all became seriously worried when he turned into a member of Hawkwind.

“Oh, the hair,” he says running a hand through his luxuriant centre-parted locks. “I suppose there is a touch of the ’70s prog rocks about it. People think it’s a conscious effort to alter my look, but I’m absolutely rubbish at being premeditated. If I was going to reinvent myself, I’d chose a better role model than Lemmy!

“With regards to Re:Generation stiffing – as you so eloquently put it – it was a record that I enjoyed making and which was right for me at the time. While I don’t in any way consider it to be sub-standard, I realised afterwards that it’s not the way I want to make music. Turning The Divine Comedy into a democracy was my idea, but once we reached that point I discovered I quite like being a dictator.”