Some ten years ago I started researching the life of Jean Prosper Guivier, a nineteenth century musician thought to be the man behind the violin shop J P Guivier & Co. on Mortimer Street, London. It took me three years to discover that he never had anything to do with the shop, which was started by his son, but by then I had acquired quite a bit of information about the father. He led such a colourful life that, as no one else had done so, I decided to start writing about his