Donegan was a huge influence on a generation of guitar players. I can still recall the first time I heard the little guitar bass riff intro to "The Battle of New Orleans" - just had to get a guitar!

He performed with some great players, including Ken Colyer and Barber, Denny Wright, etc., and was - I believe - one of the first British players to get into the music of Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie, in the 1950s. Quote from 2002:

"In Britain, we were separated from our folk music tradition centuries ago and were imbued with the idea that music was for the upper classes. You had to be very clever to play music. When I came along with the old three chords, people began to think that if I could do it, so could they. It was the reintroduction of the folk music bridge which did that."

Whether you liked him or not - and I still have all his early records - he never lost his singing and performing ability to the very end of life.