I met Luciano when I went backstage at Covent Garden after he had done a Sunday evening concert in 1976. He was sweet and charming and flirted in a very Italian way with my wife Ann who he called "beautiful lady" and kissed her hand. He had the manner which said he would remember us for ever!  Which no doubt is why there are people all over the world who will feel his death personally and not just as the passing of the greatest tenor singer in any of our lifetimes. The concert was a solo one, just Pavarotti and a pianist and an enormous white handkerchief which became his trademark.