Thanks very much for chiming in Uwe, yes, after a little testing I was getting unexpected results re: objects on invisible locked layers being selected! But that was all down to me not being specific enough in my request.
As you rightly surmised, what I was actually trying to achieve was a 'Select All' minus pasteboard objects. So my ideal script would:
Select All on active page or spread but only on unlocked and visible layers and it only needs to be first level objects i.e. group level, not burrowing down. But leave objects on the pasteboard alone.
Does that last script of yours achieve that? I'm not able to test your scripts til tomorrow
Thanks again
Les