Thanks for the various postings. I have resolved my problem. I had a look at Windows Live Mail which I had heard of, but for some reason was under the impression it was not much good. The reverse is true, it is the best email program I have seen by far ---- but in particular it has a perfectly clear Import / Export option. My csv Address Book imported into it with ease and furthermore, when I opened Outlook.com the previously empty People pages were populated with my email addresses. So it seems an easy way to import into People is to do it via Windows Live Mail.
clayto2