Nelson is a monumental subject: he did a lot and wrote a lot, and has been much talked about. So it’s not surprising that this is a weighty book. But the character it describes is so engaging and its author is such a wise and informative guide that the 700-odd pages slip by quite easily. It’s a mighty biography that deserves to be better known. Nelson has long since gone out of fashion as a public idol. These days people tend to be wary of great national heroes.

A lot of people are casually called “icons,” but Leigh Bowery really deserved the name. In fact it’s hard to think of a better description for him. Nobody who was half conscious in London in the 1980s and 1990s can have missed him, or forgotten him: he made it his business to be unforgettable.

But how would we describe him to the ignorant youngsters of today? What was it he actually did again?