To me and to many others, he was a consummate songwriter. Not many people realised either what an excellent and innovative pianist he was; Rachmaninoff he wasn't, but in terms of the way he used the piano for composition, he was unrivalled. I also hadn't quite realised how much Freddie drew from his relationships the ideas he needed for his work. He wrote many songs about the people he loved, not to mention songs about those of whom he wasn't quite so fond! For example, I would often accuse him of holding deeply old fashioned opinions. Perhaps it was this which inspired him to write Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy? I still maintain he was old fashioned. Amongst his other eccentricities, Freddie in those days was a great letter writer. I have boxes of letters from him, from wherever he found himself in the world; where most people would be content merely to phone, Freddie would write as well. I understood that later in his life, he sadly stopped being so old fashioned.