Not sure I'd agree about DVR's greatest achievement. For me it would probably be his use of E tuning in Green Green Rocky Road and Bad Dream Blues. Those songs opened a lot of doors of perception for English guitar players. And probably DVR's version of St Louis tickle inspired a lot of the ragtime stuff that emerged in the ten or so years after.

Ragtime has a very secure place in the British music psyche - if you grew up with George Formby, the chord progressions that you get in Blind Blake and Blind Boy Fuller are very similar. Cleaning Windows and too Tight rag for example are virtually the same progression. Quite a lot of people felt immediately at home with these chords and wrote songs using them almost spontaneously. I suppose once DVR had done the revival spade work - and our own Ralph McTell had embellished it.

I was listening to a recently written song by Derby's Mike Gregory just last night, written using a ragtime chord progrssion.