And the funny thing is, the longer we speak to one another the harder it is for me to see Del as a man. He started taking photographs of himself and his lovers having sex 18 years ago. There is, actually, rather more suspicion that the pet-shop owner might have hired him just to supply a bogus sense of business. Yet it is his dedication to staying just a passer-by that I find so touching. And yes, he was overly large, imprisoner of his own thin men, if you like.

“It makes women anxious and makes them believe that a lot of deliveries are dangerous when in fact the vast majority are not It also creates the idea that all baby deaths are avoidable. The number of midwives registered in Britain has fallen by 2,500 since 1995 to a record low of 32,800. Prof Savage is critical of the press coverage of Caroline Flint’s case. A lot of them said, `I can’t go back to the old ways, so stuff it’.” And, she points out, numbers of independent midwives are falling, not rising “There used to be 140. But most of them have been hatcheted for financial reasons.” This, she says, led to a lot of midwives leaving the profession “They had been waiting years to work like this.

Midwives set up pilot schemes everywhere – they worked very well. During the past year she has delivered two of her own grandchildren (she has been married for over 30 years, and has four grown-up children). The press were talking about `pools of blood’ – that came out of somebody’s mind. Press coverage has been particularly vitriolic (as in headlines like: “Baby died `after blunders by top natural birth midwife’” next to pictures of a broadly smiling Mrs Flint). Now there’s a pong that could really get up people’s noses.WHATEVER WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT…?5 School books that smell of chocolate.5 The sweet odour of freshly mown grass in car ventilation systems.5 The soothing scent of lavender in dentists’ surgeries.5 An alarm clock that exudes the aroma of toast and fresh coffee.5 Travel brochures that smell of suntan lotion.5 Cigars that smell of herbaceous borders.5 Calorie-ridden chocolate truffles that reek of boiled cabbage.5 Aeroplane toilets that automatically spray you with Chanel No 5.. Still, that’s nothing compared to other olfactory treats in store; Egan, the scented furniture creator, admits it could produce sofas smelling of beer, curry and even pizzas.

“It would be nice to go shopping and not be blasted with these smells. “A deodorised society is one that is uncertain about its values. The lavender sofa was suddenly a focus for all sorts of social inadequacies. He has always felt the need to live in public what most of us would see as one’s private life.

But Del LaGrace is eager to talk, and his deep voice with its soft Californian accent goes on and on as he spills the beans. I thought maybe it was God’s punishment for my early sexual escapades – why did I have one breast that’s AA, and one that’s DD cup?”
Sitting in a cafe with someone I’ve just met for the first time, I wouldn’t normally have got to the size of their breasts and hormone levels within 10 minutes. There’s always been something not quite right about me physiologically I always felt an impostor as a girl For instance, I only grew one breast When I was developing, I thought that meant I was a freak. Then, she ran a lesbian sex club called Chain Reaction, and apparently could be seen around town in big red wigs and crinolines and roller skates Then he began to grow that beard “I grew a beard before I took hormones,” he insists “I just stopped plucking I had very high testosterone levels anyway.