Cap'n,
"I find the thought of John Brune singing in falsetto and not being detected amusing".
I wonder if you find equally amusing the idea of three Traveller children being burned to death during an unauthorised eviction by a Midlands council.
This was the type of thing that was taking place around the time the Travelling People was made and it was incidents like this that MacColl, Parker and Seeger were attempting to draw attention to.
The Radio Ballad was the first time Travellers were given a voice to air their grievances to any extent and it was the cause of many of us becoming involved in their cause; in my case it was Councillor Harry Watton's "Exterminate the impossibles statement" at the end of the programme.
If you believe that John Brune's stunt would not have called into question the accuracy of the Travellers situation I wonder how you come to that conclusion, but perhaps having a laugh at MacColl's expense is more important than the welfare of a group of 'outsiders'.
As McGrath of Harlow points out, there is no basic difference between Pegg's description and mine.
Perhaps we should take this discussion off line so as not to embarrass you again!
Jim Carroll