Paradoxically, as a child/teenager in the 1950s and early 1960s, I was completely protected from any contact with,or reference too,this vile,unspeakable practice ! There were NO Morris dancers of any sort in Midhurst,W Sussex, nor yet in Henley-On-Thames,the Grammar Schools of which august communities I was priveleged to attend.We did,however,sing songs,during our music lessons,such as " I never saw the like,since I been born,as a big Buck Nigger withe sea-boots on...." etc. Oh, the shame of it !! But then,one day,not long after I joined the Royal Navy,about 1965 I think, I visited Sidmouth for the first time,attended a Folk Festival there,and was seduced/entranced by what I heard & saw---"This is English Tradition and Culture at its historical finest !" I thought. How little did I think,in those heady,magical,days,that 44 years later,the same festival would be taken over by the Politically Correct Apologists !! Poor Cecil must be turning in his grave !
                So now,we have people from other cultures,other faiths,and other anthropological origins,forcing some of us to undergo radical changes to our cultural traditions,even if they haven't asked us to,on the off-chance that it might offend them !! And would they do the same for us ?? If I went to Egypt on holiday,would some senior cleric stop the Muezzin from calling the Faithful to prayer,in case I found it (actually, I find it rather moving !) offensive ?? No, of COURSE not.So why don't we GROW UP,stop aplogising for every bloody aspect of our Englishness ,or Britishness,and if there are those who don't like it ?? Well, to quote Jeremy Taylor ".....you know what you can do !! " And I hope those Morris sides who have "blacked up", or anything -upped,for the last ten years,fifty years,or two hundred years,continue to stand by their principles and not give in to the hand-wringing,sackcloth-wearing self-flagellators who would destroy our history over a bit of face-paint !!