"held in low regard" and "to all intents and purposes extinct" are roughly the difference between an ASBO and hanging.

Yes, Comhltas brought government support and the Clancy Brothers made it sexy, but the old diddly diddle was going on, in Ireland, England and America, as witnessed by the large number of high quality commercial recordings from the 1900s to the 1950s.

And all those fine musicians of Camden Town didn't pick it up from nowhere.