Well I've always thought ewan was a brilliant bloke, and you only had to chat to someone like Ian Campbell to gain an idea of the high regard he was held in, by those who knew him well.

I shouldn't worry too much about the negative anecdotes, Jim. His achievements speak for themselves. i can appreciate it might be hurtful - people who barely met him, like myself giving our three pennyworth. But its a bit like having met Elvis - people want to know about the experience. And I suppose some people spice up the stories to give them more impact. ( I mean seriously - a fight between Ewan and Davenport, neither of them looked as though they could make it twice round round the park, without taking a rest.)

I used to do a gig at a pub called The drill Hall Vaults in Salford. I introduced Dirty Old Town - saying it had been written about salford. Several people in the pub were quite surprised to hear that. Further amazement when I said I had met the chap who wrote it.

Thats the nature of fame and recognition - you can't really tell which way the firework will go off. At least Ewan never had one of his songs on a compilation cd called 'Complete Shit of the 80's' - which happened to one of my songs.