Thanks for the pointers - that helped! Have been down a few rabbit holes, but finally got it fixed. Posting this now using a Linux Lite live USB
It's a Toshiba BIOS issue, related to secure boot on UFEI - not really a linux issue. Here's how I got it to work:
There are options on the BIOS that will not appear
unless you set a password on the HDD under the security menu on BIOS.
These need to be set, otherwise, no matter what boot options you have specified (USB or CD first, etc), the laptop will ignore all other media and boot straight to windows.
So, first set a password on the BIOS.
Two new options will appear:
1) Boot menu "enabled" or "disabled" - set it to "ENABLED".
2) BIOS access rights - set to "FULL"
Then, go to ADVANCED menu > System Configuration
Set BOOT MODE to "CSM"
Hope this is of help to someone else!