‘My name’s Laurence, by the way.’ (It wasn’t. His name was John. John Bell.) ‘Pleased to meet you. Is that really your surname? “Bytheway”?’ ‘Oh no, not at all. I should have said, “Incidentally, my name is Laurence.” Ha ha, that’s hilario. My surname is Romano. My father was Italian, you see. Owned a canning factory on the outskirts of somewhere or other.
