''Lady Louis’’, as Edwina was known, was enraptured. The grand-daughter of King Edward VII’s über-rich banker Sir Ernest Cassel, she epitomised the spirit of the age of the Bright Young People, and a typical entertainment might include living the day backwards, starting the morning with brandy and a five-course dinner and ending up at midnight with porridge. She was rich, she was headstrong – and what Edwina wanted, Edwina got. That included, according to biographer Charlotte Breese, the gorgeous jazz singer she met at the post-performance party. A few nights later, Hutch performed a late-night set at swanky Chez Victor: “He sang directly to Edwina. [She] took off her chiffon scarf and put it round his neck and kissed him while he was playing.” Such behaviour, between an aristocrat and a black entertainer, was unheard-of. But Edwina didn’t mind who talked, or what they said. Hutch, bemused by this latest attention but ready to take on all-comers, was living with a society girl, Zena Naylor, and had had affairs with actresses Tallulah Bankhead and Merle Oberon, and another aristocrat, ''Babe’’ Plunkett Greene. He also had a wife tucked away in north London.