Afterwards Mr Cai and his assistants damp out the fire using long poles tipped with sponges, and then smudge the lines of ash so that the portrait looks like a huge charcoaldrawing on the wall of the museum's reception hall.
His flight outfit of high boots and jodhpurs and a lightweight jumper worn over a shirt and tie was a replica of the one in which he'd crossed the Atlantic, and he spoke without removing his leather headgear or flight goggles, which were pushed up onto his forehead exactly as Sandy had them positioned in the charcoaldrawing hidden beneath his bed.
