Ewan MacColl was a great influnce on the British Folk scene,both good and bad.The songs he wrote,especially for the Radio Ballads have been absorbed into the tradition in most cases,as have some of his other offerings.I still think that at heart he was too hypocritical,in the way he insisted that any one else could only sing songs that pertained to their own background and upbringing,while he could sing what he fancied-Scottish or London,or Lancashire or Yorkshire or whatever else.Look at what he recorded-even Army songs from a pacifist.