Ray Royer

This enigmatic image is one of a set kindly sent to BtP in October 2002 by Claes Johansen, author of the Procol Harum biography.

We seem to be at a market of some sort (the numerous boots are presumably for sale ... they're not all about to do a Pythonic demolition job of the Procol guitarist).

Ray himself – in an incongruously showy shirt – is leaning against a cage of the type in which chickens are commonly exhibited. The next item is a folding bed ... the market is miscellaneous to say the very least.

Royer himself seems to be clutching a camera and is looking back beyond the present photographer. In his turn he seems to be being scrutinised by a rather appealing young woman while, to their left, a doleful procession – could it be refugees of some sort? – makes its way alongside some ominous vans, parked just this side of an impenetrable-looking fence.

A true Procol Harum scene, in fact.