I have been running a thread on vintage British folk scene photos for some while now on the fRoots Forum at http://froots.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=25499#25499
I posted a photo of RENE PICKLES and got a request for more information about him from Andy Turner. Hmm! He picked out the person in this whole gallery that I know least about!

The photograph was scanned from the June 1972 issue of Folk Review. The photo comes from a feature on the National Folk Festival in its years at Keele and Loughborough. The only reference to him in the accompanying article says "Rene Pickles will show how to make and use 'Seth Davy' dolls."
Google only finds one reference to him - in a thread in Mudcat called Seth Davy info please at thread.cfm?threadid=14342&desc=yes and this dates back to October 1999! I think they have got the wrong person, however, because the post by "roopoo" talks about "she". It says:-
I've got a dancing doll. The basic principle is simple, but it requires the right touch to get it going properly. I haven't got it, one of his arms keeps wheeling about in a one-sided backstroke, so he hangs on the wall. I saw someone, Rene Pickles, I think, who had some beauties and could make them dance well. She also had a Canadian doll. cheers mouldy

Can anyone help me?