I never realised that Diz had been a great influence on me. I had always thought: Carthy, Jones, Leven, Chapman- but after Dangerous Curves had done a gig with Diz, Jen Ingersoll said to me: "he did your act!" An awful lot had rubbed off.
I had the priviledge to play a second half in Brighton with him once - he thought I might be up to it. Every time he asked me to to take a solo, he said "come on, Chris." I think he mixed every young guitarist with the wonderful Chris Newman - I subsequently saw him call other guitarists "Chris."
An extaordinary night that I recall was at the Stamford Folk Club in Brighton in around 1973, when all the seats were occupied by Chinese Students, all dressed the same, all wearing glasses - 4 numbers into the set - no applause at all- they, as one one, stood up and left. The seats were then occupied by the normal punters and he carried on. Not one word from Diz about this. This situation would have been fruitful pastures for some great banter. No. Not a word. Beyond being a wonderful gentleman, he was possibly politically correct before his time...or, maybe, for once he was flummoxed!
Love you Diz.