Firstly, I would like to thank Darrell, Yau-Man and Clifford for their
responses to my quandry!  As it turned out, the problem was both simpler and
sneakier than the normal causes of this kind of problem.  After checking
that the ignition switch actually was working, I had a look at the fuel pump
relay - with the relay removed a fairly low resistance (if I remember, about
2 ohms) from the fuel pump side to ground.  With the relay removed, I tried
to use the meter switched to the 10 amp range to measure fuel pump current
and see if it could be made to run.

With the meter working as an ammeter, I got no action with the hot side
connected directly to the alternator despite the low measured resistance.
While checking this out I noticed the larger wire (the one running to the
battery) was broken and just brushing up against the alternator post.  This
would at least explain the flickering of the headlights ... .  Having
observed there is a second wire connected to the alternator, the obvious
question is where does this go?  Surely they didn't ... . A quick check in
the Bently shows that they did - the fuel pump power and battery are
connected together at the alternator!  This explains all symptoms - runs OK,
but very difficult to start since either enough cranking is required to get
the alternator to run the fuel pump and injectors or enough vibration
generated to get contact made.  But if it ever does start, the alternator
can presumably power the fuel pump and injectors and whatever else is
powered by that circuit (ECU?).

Anyways, I am happy to have found the problem and thankful that the ECU did
not somehow die in the process!

                                Art