Well it's a week since my last update. It has been confirmed that the old battery was caput, so I've been given a nice new one which I've fitted to the car. I've been running the car all week and it has been starting first time, every time so I'm hoping that's the problem solved.....altho going on past history I'm not going to hold my breath. I'm just going to enjoy driving it while I can....long may that be. Thanks for all the suggestions.
"In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away."