I have always thought that the people of England could be acquainted with more of the folksongs that are their birthright, if we could interest more mainstream artists in the idea of interpreting them. Scottish people know more of their folkmusic than our citizens.

And in a way its not the legacy of the Dick Gaughans(not that I'm downplaying his importance) - as much as people like Andy Stewart, Kenneth McKellar, Moira Anderson, Jimmy Shand and all those much despised producers of the shortbread tin stuff. they taught a load of songs to a broad sweep of their generation.

When I was a young chap, I was interested in Nottamunum Town. But I couldn't understand it. So I asked the only guy I knew who was likely to know and that was Ewan MacColl.(seems like he was as Scottish as Cecelia Costello was Irish). MacColl was brilliant on the subject explained all kinds of stuff, explained and expounded for an hour. I wish I'd taken notes in retrospect -finally though he asked me which version had captured my interest.

When I said Bert Jansch - it was abit like I'd dangled a rotten fish under his nose. In England, popularisers are treated with suspicion.