Just for info, the saga continues.  Garage sent a trained land rover
mechanic over to the house on a motorbike this afternoon.  He removed
the radio and was expecting to find a fault with something called a
'spider', only there was no spider.  He pulled everything apart and
tested every fuse and eventually found a suspect connection in the
black plug where the immobiliser circuit goes to the fuel pump in the
engine bay. Replacing this seemed to give reliable starting and an end
to the problems.  Smiles all round.

However, I stopped for sandwiches at Reading Services this evening on
the M4.  After a ten minute break attempting to restart the car gave
exactly the same non-firing symptoms as before, as well as a strong
urge to jump in front of a big truck.  Sat for half an hour waiting
for the AA (I've got them on speed-dial now) and then, out of boredom,
tried starting it again.  Fired up perfectly.  Cancelled the AA and
came on here to Surrey.  No idea if it will start again tomorrow to go
to the clients site.

Also this evening when i was trying to start it there was a feint
buzzing noise from the area around the back of the radio; that is
new.  Sometimes before and sometimes after turning the key.  No idea
what is causing any of this.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be further instalments in this story...

Cheers,
M.