My first acquaintance with the word "ceilidh" came in the late 1950s, through Compton Mackenzie's hilarious novel "Whisky Galore" (first published 1947). There, the phrase 'to have a ceilidh' is used by a Gaelic-speaking Hebridean islander in the original sense of making social visit, and is comically misunderstood by an English visitor as referring to a bar of chocolate. ("Caley" was the brand name of a then flourishing but now long-forgotten confectionary firm.) What made the joke funny was that most English-speakers at the time would probably have made the same mistake.

The first time I heard the word "ceildh" used to describe a musical gathering was in Oxford, in 1961. It was applied to what would now be called "singarounds" - there was no dancing - held at The Mason's Arms in Headington Quarry, just outside the city. These events were hosted by Jim Philips (then Squire of Headington Quarry Morris) and Dennis Manners (then Fool of Oxford City Morris, and later the founder of Towersey Folk Festival), both of whom were excellent singers. I don't remember hearing "ceilidh" used to describe a social dance event before I moved to Tyneside in 1970 - it was already commonplace there.

So,who was it who first had the idea of using an unfamiliar Gaelic word to describe what ordinary English people at that time would have called a "sing-song"? (Or in the case of an informal dance event, a "knees-up")? Was it the Council of the EFDSS? Peter Kennedy? Ewan Macoll? Any suggestions?

Wassail!