Rob Young is obviously a young man, writing about a lot that he doesn't actually remember. His assertion that 'the ubiquitous image of the folkie strumming an acoustic guitar is a product of the late-50s & 60s' {p 160}, is great nonsense ~~ as indeed are the whole of pp 159-161 on this topic. We had a thread a while back on the history of the British folk guitar; suffice here to say that his assertion that you couldn't get a roundhole flat-top guitar in England for love nor money much before then is - er - inaccurate. My uncle Alex Burns's musical instrument shop in Shaftesbury Avenue from the 1930s-40s onwards was absolutely full of them. Elton Hayes [whom Mr Young neglects entirely to mention] did a roving troubadour act with guitar from the late-30s on; a man called Eric sang, accompanied by one, in my Uncle Alec's & my mother's restaurant Chez Cleo in Harrington Gardens from 1951, & so did I from 1956; & my cousin Alan Katz was singing songs to such a guitar at least, in my recollection, from 1945.

Why will people spoil good books with such inaccurate, ill-researched nonsense!

~Michael~