His strict disciplinarian mum would often punish him for playing truant – at one time she even put a ball and chain on the boy's leg, and sent him to school in a horse carriage, or a Bendi.

It was the time when he moved to Singapore, he would hear his cook's son playing the violin at the back of their Newton house every night.

Goh performed excellently in all his annual exams, receiving the Premier Prix distinction award consecutively for three years.

He had also made new friends during his years in Switzerland – with father-son violin makers Alfred and Pierre Vidoudez, and American-Italian violinist Joseph Nardulli.

[1] Goh arrived in Brussels via Paris and the Netherlands, and went to seek Alfred Marchot at the Royal Academy of Music with a letter of introduction written by Costa earlier.

The prolonged hunger pangs, malnutrition and stress caused by the lack of food brought about a paralysis in three fingers of his left hand, killing his hopes of playing the violin ever again.

Goh fell into the trenches of despair, but Marchot was happy to teach him the aesthetics of music until his death in July 1939.

[1] Arriving home a broken man with a crippled dream, Goh picked himself up and told himself I will make my fortune with these two violins.

In his illustrious teaching years, he produced Singapore's musical prodigies like Dick Lee, Lynnette Seah, Kam Kee Yong, Seow Yit Kin, Melvyn Tan, Choo Hoey and Lim Soon Lee, Music Director/ Resident Conductor of the National University of Singapore Concert Orchestra.

As a child, Lee Pan Hon had shown talent in music, but living in the Chinatown slums his family was too poor to afford proper clothing for the then 5-year-old boy in 1958.

Goh was awarded Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal) for his immense achievements and contributions to the Singapore society.