I heard Eddie Calvert for the first time in 1948, just after WW2. His playing fascinated me and all I wanted from then on was a trumpet. But I was only 12 years old and we weren't well off so Mum and Dad couldn't afford a trumpet. Then on my way home from school a miracle happened! I saw a beautiful, gold coloured, used trumpet in the window of a pawn shop and priced at £25 but without a case. I asked inside if I could have it by paying weekly and the reply was no, but he did offer to put the instrument aside for me until I had enough money. Dad suggested I get a weekend job in the local Coop and use the money from that to buy the trumpet. I managed to get the job and spent every Saturday for the next year skinning cheeses and sweeping the shop etc for ten shillings (50p) a week until I had the £25. I paid the money in to the pawn shop weekly and got my receipt book signed for that week. Then came the wonderful day when I carried the beautiful object home. It was a Besson New Creation large bore model. Unknown to me this was a professional grade instrument and it's now worth about £500 or as much as you can get for it. It's now a vintage instrument and my one is in mint condition. The same model as played by Eddie Calvert, by that jazzer with the bow tie and another professional whose name I forget. I learned to play on it but then the chance of playing someone else's cornet came along and I played that instead. My beautiful trumpet stayed in its box that I'd since bought and now it's about 65 years old. I could go on but you may find this boring so I'll give it a rest.

Very inspirational