I just read the Harker book having previously known absolutely nothing about MacColl other than his music. I'd been listening to his albums on and off over the last year - there's a lot of them available to hear on Spotify and a lot to download on emusic.

He led a fascinating life. But what was most interesting for me was how much my mental image of his personality, as revealed in his music, corresponded with descriptions of what he was like as a person.

In case you hadn't guessed from that, I'm not really a fan of his singing style - it's too affected for me, and there' something a little pompous and doctrinaire about it. I thought so the first time I ever heard it, long before I knew anything at all about him.