Vic: Loved the Shirley Collins interview. Give her a HUGE HUG from
me. First time we met she was with Alan Lomax (gritch/curse)
Following tales will jog pleasant memories

1. At our first duet at C# House, she introduced me thus:
Stan and I are incompatible -- he has the income & I'm pattable

2. We were both in Dominic Behan's "Cantata of Christ the Worker"
for BBC TV (wonder if there's any trace of that left behind?) It was
Dom's "answer" to Ewan/Peggy's Radio Ballads. Shirley played the Virgin Mary & I was St Peter (perfect casting!!!)
The BBC had a religious observer on the set to prevent any heresies!
Dom opened with
Twas Mary from Joseph conceived in the year of one
Jesus the finest & bravest of history's son
Born in a manger in Bethlehem gave unto him birth
Then fled from the soldiers of Herod who for them searched

The "censor" objected to the "from Joseph" bit -- but after a
threatened strike failed, Dom chnged it to
Twas Mary conceived [several nyas] all in the year of one

3. So many venues & pints consumed. Blues/Ballads at a
crowded room above a Soho pub. And the victorian splendours
of a noisy Princess Louise (near the Pru) Always dreamed that
Shirley's RambleAway was aimed at me!
I still meet Ramblin' Jack (a regular back then) at Mill Valley's
SweetWater club. In his cups (wot's new?) he always introduces
me as the author of "In My Liverpool Home" (which is by Pete
McGovern, of course) and I have to say NO, I wrote "I Wish I
was Back in Liverpool" -- they all sound the same to Jack!

Back to Bert. Below the surface peace/comradeship/kumbaya there
were inevitable personality clashes. Stan Hugil scorned the
Lloyd/MacColl shanty-renditions. As a true clipperman, he used
to say "Them two would get seasick in a Sevvy Park rowing boat"
And Bert was aghast when Pete Seeger did he wood-chopping worksong
at the Albert Hall while chopping real wood on stage! Even Bert and Ewan had the odd snipes (eg on the origins of the FourLoomWeaver)
and both disliked Dominic's bawdy/boozy/stageIrishisms

But I'm rambling on
Stan Kelly