THE LAST TIME I saw Archie he was back in Vegas. It’s only an hour and a half from LA, so I got a cheap flight and went out there hoping (against reason perhaps) to find him flush. He usually lived in rented rooms, moving whenever his fortune changed. I had an address on the edge of the city: Gold Stars Motor Court. It was difficult to know if the woman on the postcard was representative of the clientele or the entertainment on offer. I hadn’t seen him for a long time and I knew this was probably a bad idea. But desperate times, etc. Truth is I’d run up a cocktail bill at the Beverly Hills Hotel so high it made me dizzy to look at it. And my father lived a charmed life once.

The girl at the front desk said, ‘Of course I know your daddy, he’s out there now by the pool – it’s happy hour! We’re all very fond of Archie here, he’s a real character, isn’t he? Just so you’re aware, we’ve had to pause room service until he settles his bar tab.’