In response to Andrez - with respect, I genuinely think that morris s singled out, in England at least, for ridicule by the general public and the media in particular. This is not the same as the general piss-taking amongst people who are already involved in the scene with regards to banjos, bodhrans, or whatever else. I have never heard anybody on national radio or tv sniggering about banjo players for example, and that happens far too often about the morris. Most morris dancers have pretty thick skins and are happy to take the piss amongst themselves, so I don't think this thread is about people being precious about 'their' hobby being mocked. It's more that England seems to have developed a national habit of believing that morris is something to be embarrassed about, in a way that no other country that I know of seems to behave towards their national dance. And at the same time England is regularly taken over with fads and fashions for other countries' dance traditions - the riverdance phenomenon for example. No idea whether the same attitude is prevalent in other countries such as Australia, so maybe you haven't come across the attitude that is upsetting some of us here...?

I can't help answer Lucy's original question though - certainly the situation has been teh same for as long as I've been aware of it but I'm only in my 30's.

J