Mike Batt: The man who wrote the Wombles jingle

Mike Batt, 60, is a hard man to pin down. As a singer-songwriter, he's written such hits as A Winter's Tale for David Essex and Bright Eyes for Art Garfunkel. But as the founder of £15m-a-year record label Dramatico Entertainment, he's a successful entrepreneur too, discovering the talents of platinum-selling singer Katie Melua among others. "People don't really know who I am. But that suits me just fine. It means I can pop out of any hole when and where I want." And the first hole he popped out of was a burrow a Womble burrow, in fact.

The son of a civil engineer, Batt learned to play piano by ear, after struggling with the hand-eye coordination required to read and play music at the same time. By the age of 18, he was writing string and brass arrangements for other artists at 50p a time, "just about enough for food and electricity". It was the early 1970s, and times were hard. Living on a houseboat in Weybridge, married with two children, he blew £11,000 ("all the money I had") recording a rock orchestral album that nobody wanted to hear. "I was completely skint, and wearing my bank manager's patience thin."

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Jody Clarke

Jody studied at the University of Limerick and was a senior writer for MoneyWeek. Jody is experienced in interviewing, for example digging into the lives of an ex-M15 agent and quirky business owners who have made millions. Jody’s other areas of expertise include advice on funds, stocks and house prices.