Then I got to the beasts — the foumart, the cur fox, the baboon, the Chillingham bull — and suddenly, gazing at a handsome illustration of a lion, I remembered, as a child, pulling down an impossibly heavy old leatherbound book of fables, full of magical drawings of wolves and crows and bears, intense in their detail while managing to leave much to the imagination.

When the boy was admitted, Carter said, the haemoglobin count was 8.3 grams per decilitre.

Ellie Hambling, from HeartCare Cardiac Support Group, said: 'It would absolutely ruin your heart. It’s a no-goer I'm afraid.'

He pulled a knotful of hundred-dollar bills out of his pocket and handed one to her.