"It's not fishy, JM: I'm not into fishing but somehow heard about and checked out this book, The Complete Angler, for it's verses, and it did indeed make several references to unaccompanied singing for a fish or two. So that was in the 17th century, and I also mentioned the Joseph Taylor recordings when someone asked for some concrete evidence about the many centuries of UA singing I mentioned above. It's not I, JM, who is deluding himself."

No, you are wrong. Just because you can find an example of someone singing unaccompanied does not mean that (I quote..) "It's widely accepted that for centuries it didn't change much - singing unaccompanied, repeating a tune for dance;". Nobody was disputing that people have sung accompanied for centuries, I am disputing that that is ALL they did.

In fact, all the documentation and historical evidence is against you. The term Heterophony was coined by Plato (428-347 BC), and there are surviving treatises on Organum harmony singing from around 845 AD. The Sheffield Carols, to pick one example, have been sung in impromptu harmony for at least a couple of hundred years.

Besides, I'm with Captain Swing. What bearing does any of this have on "losing culture" or "society suffering"? Theres a quote from Isaac Newton about successive scientific achievements being made "standing on the shoulders of giants" - do you not want to see our culture continue to build on everything that has gone before and develop forwards and upwards? I love my country and its musical heritage and I love hearing new things and being inspired by what is happening now. I simply cannot understand your point of view, and I especially cannot understand your desire to tell others how they should do things. By all means enjoy the things you enjoy, and disapprove of things you don't like, but don't try to justify it with facts unless you have checked they are correct and you have thought it through.

And, in true dragons den style, for that reason - I'm out.