The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #105724 Message #2177308
Posted By: Fred McCormick
23-Oct-07 - 11:06 AM
Thread Name: Ewan MacColl and RTE
Subject: Ewan MacColl and RTE
Thanks to everyone who replied to my quest for information about the 20th anniversary programme on the radio ballads. That's one problem out of the way. Unfortunately, I've hit another cataloguing deficiency.
Shortly before he died, RTÉ radio in Ireland recorded a three part biographical series covering Ewan MacColl's entire lifespan. It was called "In His Own Words".
This series is particularly important, partly because it looks at MacColl's life in more depth than any other documentary I've come across (Parsley, Sage and Politics possibly excepted) and partly because it represents practically the last things MacColl said to the media before he died. (The programmes were actually broadcast posthumously.)Therefore, it represents what amounted to his final thoughts on a number of thorny topics.
However, I recorded the series off the radio - medium waveband - so the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately, it's reasonably clear throughout, but I can't detect the name of the producer. It definitely wasn't Cathal Goan, but it could have been Harry Bradshaw.
Would anyone know for certain who the producer was?