“My iPhone is dead.”

It came as a surprise as we had just got home from a social weekend away. Said iPhone, of course, is my wife’s. The one that she spends countless hours reciting phrases of broken Spanish into, courtesy of Duolingo. The one that interrupts a peaceful walk on the Downs as she chattages with friends.

Sure enough, even when left plugged into its main charger, it refused to respond to any press of buttons. The screen was black, and looked like it intended staying that way.

While I am happy to try to revive almost any Mac, it is my son who has the iPhone expertise. I suggested that she should speak to him, but of course that was an inadequate response.

Thankfully a quick brush with Google brought up a helpful little posting by Mat Toor, another former MacUser contributor, suggesting some simple tricks to awaken the dead iPhone.

We left the iPhone on charge whilst we had tea. The food made us feel better, but the volts did not help the phone.

I held the Sleep/Wake button down for ages. The screen remained unflinchingly black.

I held the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons together, counted slowly, got to about 11, and it suddenly burst into life. Unlike Henry the Eighth in Wolf Hall (Peter Kosminsky’s wonderful TV production of Hilary Mantel’s novels), there was no gasping inspiration, no hubbub of courtiers expressing delight. It just started up as usual, invited the passcode, and carried on as if nothing had happened.

That is a trick worth remembering.