Hello Les,

i am a little puzzled by your "take" on this subject. You seem a little irritated by opinions or theories unless backed up in some way by what you perceive as fact. I would argue however, that this is just a place to have a natter, and a few theories, here and there, don't really matter.
Nevertheless to challenge your statement about black faced dancers originating from the 1970's, here is another quote from the "Morris Book" second edition, published in 1912:-

"The custom observed by many Morris men of blackening their faces, a practice which still obtains in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and other parts of England, and has been traced in France, the Netherlands and Germany."

This was one of the points to support his argument that the Morris dance was of Moorish origin.