I heard Tony Capstick tell the McColl & the gypsies story at a concert on Jersey, 1975 or 76. I don't know how old it was before then.

Cheers, Santa - this is a thread on folklore, so its nice to have some sort of provenance to work with. As I say - the man, the myth, the legend.

childish enough to propagate unsubstantiated legends.

See above.

But why would a folk club organiser book anyone he thought was an arsehole.

To please the punters obviously; but then again, some of my favourite singers have turned out to be less than appealing face-to-face, and I believe (or so I'm told) MacColl wasn't exactly easy-going in his demands. One of my favourite ever ballad singers, I last saw him at The Bridge in Newcastle and was bored to death by his execrable self-penned polemics about South Africa.

warts an all.

Absolutely.

The years 1939-45 are covered concisely.

Perhaps someone might be good enough to provide a précis for those of us who don't have Mr Harker's book to hand...