Guest. I don't know whether I've missed it, but has anyone on this thread actually said that traditions are static and unchanging? That is certainly not an opinion I hold, and it's not one that the evidence would support. EG. The first time I went to Worrall, I asked someone how many tunes they had for While Shepherds Watched. He said 11. I went back the following year (1972, I think), and the guy said "We've got 12 tunes for While Shepherds Watched now".

The twelfth? Well, Judy Collins had had a big hit with Amazing Grace earlier that year. The carollers liked it, realised it fitted the metre of While Shepherds and incorporated it into their repertoire. So far as I know, it's still there forty years later.

Regarding charges of misoginy, I most definitely plead not guilty, and have railed equally in the past at similar programmes which have been fronted by male celebrities. EG., some years ago, BBC radio got Billy Bragg to talk about the Padstow carols. (At any rate, I think it was Padstow. Apologies if I've got that bit wrong.) I don't want to be rude, but what the ******* does the Bard of Barking know about any carolling traditions? Answers on the back of a postage stamp please.