I have just re-read the thread and realised that I half outed Chordstrangler, author of the original song called Boys of the Byline Brigade, since nowhere else among these old messages was he identified. But there's no secret - Chordstrangler is, as Gervase (also up there somewhere) says at my site, Mickey MacConnell. I do not know how good a journalist Mickey was, but he's a mightily good songwriter. Tinkerman's Daughter, Only Our Rivers Run Free........Gervase would add Peter Pan and Me, which I have never heard
So thanks to Gervase for alerting me to this, albeit seven years late, (and also for his beautifully written summing up of the highs and lows of daily journalism, and the life beyond it that I, too, hope to sample again)
And finally, another singer, Anne Truscott Kennedy, has popped up at Salut! Live (link in previous message) to tell us that Mickey is still making great music over in Kerry. She has also added some YouTube links to Mickey live.