Having read Jim Carroll' remarks about Alex Campbell and seeing the response from Mike, Will and John I must agree with them. I don't know how many times you saw him Jim and I wouldn't try to excuse the incident that you witnessed, but there was a period in the sixties when he was regularly on at the Ballads & Blues Club on alternate week-ends. Alex to my mind was an entertainer,singer and raconteur and always managed to get a good turn out. I saw him for a number of years from when he first came back from France with a young Joe Locker. The "near enough for folk" comment has always been used light heartedly. Surely you have been around long enough to know that
I was a regular at the B & B from 1957 at the Princess Louise until it finished in 1965 at the King of Corsica and so am quite aware of the way Ewan did things and mostly had the feeling that he was a little remote from many in his audience and often quite humourless.
Exactly opposite to Alex. One evening at the King & Queen at Paddington Green Ewan was far from pleased when Alex told a farting joke and he was even more pissed off when Eric Winter followed up with his joke about the man who was always scratching his testicles.
Needless to say the audience enjoyed both.
Neither Alex or Ewan were perfect, and who is? but I believe Alex was probably responsible for bringing more people into this music than Ewan.

Hoot