I'm surprised you say he hated Children, where did that come from. I read in Val doonican's recent autobiography that he visited Val's home once, and asked could he go upstairs to say goodnight to Val's two young daughters, a little later Val came up to find him singing Scarlet Ribbons to 2 enthralled little girls. As for being a rebel, I have read he was very unpopular with other musicians for Turning fellow artists in to the McCarthy Communist witchhunt of the 1950! So two very contradictory stories there