‘I locked my violin away in a cupboard and opened a pizzeria!'

This week’s columnist: Dutch violinist André Rieu

I was 26 when I first got together with my wife, Marjorie. I had been studying violin my whole life and I just didn’t notice the Beatles or the Rolling Stones like everyone else. I was very abnormal and so was my wife, who had been studying at university for what seemed like her whole life, due to having very religious parents. We just discovered everything a little bit later and we had a lot of catching up to do! So we decided to go through puberty together in about three weeks. We got our ears pierced – I got an earring in one ear and she got one in the other.

Once we entered a shop and both of us had long hair at that time. The shop assistant asked, ‘Ladies, are you being served?’ It was so funny!