The famous dancing bear lived in a plush apartment on the eight floor of a brand new tower block, above a branch of Boots the Chemist. I knew this because he belonged to my friends J and GC.

I almost didn’t make it on the day of my planned visit to see this extraordinary animal. First of all an old friend and I were distracted by the 1970s photo booth in Boots. We spent far too long trying to recreate the crazy black and white images of our teenage years. Then I realised that I didn’t have J and G’s phone number on me and had no way of letting them know that we were in the building. Thankfully, the kind staff in Boots were able to contact G somehow and he came down to meet us then lead us back up the building to the flat.

The dancing bear already had quite an audience, including my mother who was trying to video his antics. He stood on his hind legs and jigged gently, with his right “arm” stretched out and pointing to a begging bowl at his feet. He was a very entertaining act, but I wondered if I was the only one to spot that this was not a bear, but just a very big, well-trained, dog?