As an American lover of British Isles folk song, I am constantly tripping over Bert Lloyd's influences in the English folk revival. I have many of Lloyd's recordings, and his books "England and Her Songs(?)/The Singing Englishman" and "Come All You Bold Miners". I am interested in his links between labor and folk music, because my husband and I sing a lot of occupational/work songs, and he is a wonderful source for many of them from the British perspective.

I'm also just curious to hear some stories and get a better historical sense about his role in English folk music. Some of my questions are serious, some just gossipy:

1. What was Lloyd's role in starting/running Topic records?

2. What songs and/or song collections does Lloyd deserve credit for finding and/or giving wider exposure?

3. When was Lloyd in Australia? What did he do there (other than collect Australian songs)?

4. Lloyd seems to have loved "allegorical" songs (read double-entendre bawdy here). He also seemed to have "discovered" and promoted a whole slew of attractive, talented, young female singers like Frankie Armstrong and Anne Briggs. Any good gossip here?

5. What other singers did Lloyd help gain prominence? I have heard he was helpful and supportive of Ashley Hutchings' folk-rock endeavors - true?

6. Lloyd collected songs in Albania, Yugoslavia and the Balkans. Are the English revival recordings of folk songs with weird rhythm structures like "Sovay" and "The Handweaver and the Factory Maid" (in 5/4) traditional, or did Lloyd blend in Balkan rhythm patterns? Someone told me that if there was a reference to "misty mountains" in a folk song (like "Anathea"), it probably had been meddled with by Bert Lloyd. What are some other songs he arranged and/or doctored?

7. Are there any books about the British folk revival which talk about the relative roles of Lloyd, Ewan MacColl, Peter Kennedy and others? Did they get along with each other?

I'd love to hear from any 'Catters who actually knew and/or worked with him, or who have (reasonably) accurate stories to pass along!