When I was getting into traditional music in the early 60s, Tom was a 'tiffy' (artificer) in the Royal Navy stationed at nearby Rosyth Dockyard. He hung around with my younger sister's crowd and had absolutely no interest whatever in folk music. The ironic thing is that our local folk club (in Dunfermline) had Cyril Tawney (his great hero) as a guest a couple of times in the early 60s and I'm almost certain that Tom wasn't there - he just had no interest! I was astonished, many years later, to come across a flyer for a local folk club when I was in Maine that had him advertised. Then I listened to one of his albums and re-established contact with him - and, yes, a nice guy.

Jack