of the principal to the name he retained for the rest of his life. With his performances, Geldray became the first person to play the harmonica in the jazz style. A change in the format of the band to a quartet and the introduction of a new manager led to a six-week tour of English theatres in 1937, accompanying the comedian Tom Moss; the band changed its name to "The Hollander Boys". During the tour, Moss introduced Geldray to Jack Hylton, who invited him to play in his orchestra for the evening. On his return to the Netherlands, the harmonica band broke up and Geldray travelled alone to Brussels, where he found work playing with the dance orchestra at the club Le Boeuf sur le Toit, where he remained for a year. He then worked with a dance band in The Hague, before joining the house band at the Ostend Casino, the Johnny Fresno Band . He would meet performers who were booked to play the casino on occasion, including saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, the English bandleader Ambrose and French bandleader Ray Ventura. Ventura soon offered Geldray a job and in 1937 Geldray moved to Paris. While in Paris, he went to the Hot Club de France and played with jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, a musician about whom Geldray asserted, "I can honestly say that I have never heard anyone better". The two became close friends and played together often. With the invasion of France by German forces in early 1940, Geldray travelled to England, where he realised he would be safer. On 20 September 1940, he joined the Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade, part of the Dutch army exiled in England. During the war he continued to play and appeared on BBC Radio; in 1942 he was part of the entertainment laid on for Princess Elizabeth's sixteenth birthday at Windsor Castle. During the course of 1942, Geldray also met Sarah Prentice, a 26-year-old Scottish variety artiste, whose professional name was Zaza Peters; the couple married on 18 January 1943. Geldray took part in the Normandy landings with the Prinses Irene Brigade, but was injured by a bomb blast and spent time in a military hospital. Although he did not incur long-term injuries, he suffered from recurring nightmares in the following years. After the liberation of Amsterdam, Geldray travelled to the city to find his parents who had been resident when