When Ed Victor and I shared an office at Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the 1960s we advertised for a secretary. Faith Evans came for an interview, but we felt that she was too highly qualified, hoped to have a more appropriate job later, and suggested she keep in touch. The secretary we hired did not last long, but neither of us could find Faith’s address. While we were frantically searching, the phone rang. It was Faith, and all we had to say was: “When can you start?”

After I left publishing to write full time on industrial and transport history, she became my editor at Andre Deutsch for a while. We shared a love of jazz, and I remember an amazing day with her and her partner, John Stokes, at the London Jazz festival at Alexandra Palace.