I first met Malcolm Mclaren in 1991, when I was naïve a young lawyer, newly installed as Head of Business Affairs at RCA. Our Chairman summoned me to tell me that he had just struck a deal with Malcolm to produce a TV drama for Channel 4 called “Ghosts of Oxford Street”. RCA was to sell the accompanying soundtrack album.

The premise of the show was a fantasy, eerie jaunt through the history of the West End of London, with a Christmas theme, and musical interludes from the likes of the Pogues and the Happy Mondays.

From the start Malcolm cheerfully caused chaos at every opportunity. He overspent the budget for recordings, shifted the creative direction of the show at will, missed deadlines and avoided all efforts to pin him down. This was definitely a wacky negotiating climate.

I called him one day when yet another unexpected bill for £3, 000 had appeared. “Do you think you could ask us before you spend our money?” I suggested to  him, politely. He wafted me away; “Don’t be so gray, Clive, don’t be so gray”

Sadly the show was not a hit, and because the show flopped RCA didn’t sell any records either. One problem was that the show aired after Christmas day itself. Generally speaking trying to sell Christmas records in the week after Christmas is harder than shifting Brussels Sprouts.

I don’t know that I would classify Malcolm as a truly effective negotiator. All that wackiness tended to put partners on edge, and he had a bit of a win-lose attitude to the needs of others.

However, negotiating with Malcolm was definitely a colourful experience, and not at all gray……..the world will miss him