•George earned a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music.

•George was born in 1926 as the son of a carpenter.

•We didn't pay to go to school, my parents were very poor. Again, I wasn't taught music and they weren't, we taught ourselves. My instrument happened to be the piano because it was lying around. Their instrument was the guitar. They formed a band, and I formed a band. So there are quite a few parallels. As for the posh bit, you can't really go through the Royal Navy and get commissioned as an officer and fly in the Fleet Air Arm without getting a little bit posh (The Billboard Interview by Paul Sexton).