Surreal, erudite and always experimenting: Tom Stoppard was a playwright never likely to stand still

When I think of Tom Stoppard, I think first of a rather trivial moment in his 1982 play The Real Thing, when the protagonist worried about the possibility that he might be asked to appear on Desert Island Discs. He didn’t like worthy classical music. And guests who did choose pop tended to choose something arty, like Pink Floyd. But he knew, to his despair, that he would end up selecting “Um Um Um Um Um Um” by Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders.

It’s a very Stoppard moment – funny, self-deprecating, and in tune with popular culture across the decades.