A favourite play of mine is Our Town by Thornton Wilder. It is a play that I have seen only once, over 20 years ago now, at the Edinburgh Festival in 1990, but its celebration of the minutiae of everyday life has stayed with me ever since and is relevant in my tribute to my cousin Nicky.

When I went to the Edinburgh Festivals during the 1980s and early 1990s I would always spend time with my Uncle Freddie, Nicky`s father. When I go to the Festival nowadays I always wish that I could go and see my Uncle too. I know that Nicky had tremendous respect for Freddie.

In the 4-act play Our Town, one of the main characters dies prematurely and unexpectedly at the end of Act 3. The final act of the play sees this character, from the graveyard, given the opportunity to relive a day in their life.

Over the years I didn't really see Nicky that much, especially once he had moved to live in Germany. The last time I saw him was at Freddie's funeral in March 2007, when Nicky spoke so well in his tribute for Freddie. During the few weeks before Freddie's death, I did have several long telephone conversations with Nicky while he was staying in Freddie's house. I know that we both appreciated these.

However, the day that I would like to relive again with Nicky was 30th January 1973 when I was 13 years old and Nicky was 24. On that day Nicky took me up to London. In the morning we went to the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington. After that Nicky took me to Highbury to see my first really big Football Match, Arsenal v Manchester United. I can still remember vividly that we were stood low down and close to where the players ran out on to the pitch. It was an exciting occasion. I had never been in such a big crowd and relied on Nicky to keep me safe from the crush. My memory tells me that United lost by 3 goals to 1, which would of course have disappointed Nicky! I still have the match programme that he bought me and that is shown below as part of my tribute.