You may well be right Abby. I wasn't claiming Sir Martin wrote it. I am but a humble listener and occasional singer who once shared a railway compartment (those were the days) and a very occasional folk club floor with the great man. However I would bow to the better knowledge about the source of songs to mudcatters clearly better informed than I.

Still if he got the words from the US does that add more weight to the DD/MM school of thought or is it either cos Legman Randolph got it from UK sources or as Bill D says it is just that it sounds better in songs that way. I dunno.

Of course in computing circles, in which I certainly do not revolve, don't they use YYYYMMDD which has one advantage as it gets you closer to numerical sequence?

So to get back to the thread Martin Carthy was born in computing terms on 19412105, in US was born 5/21/1941 and in UK 21/5/1941. Either way, what is now clearly established is that he is 60 not 70.