Martin,

It's a slow haul (in answer to your question, when is the book due?), as you might judge from the time it's taken for me to answer. Sorry about that. I forgot the thread, and have only just now thought to revisit old mudcat haunts.

Slow progress then. At the moment I'm busy transcribing interviews Bill has given me, and those of other parties involved (wives 1 and 2, Gloria and Helen; Karl Dallas, Gloria's second hubbie; Dave Swarbrick; Reg Hall; Lea Nicholson etc etc). I'm uncovering some great nuggets, although the scale of the project is more daunting than when I started.

The idea is that the book will be self-published. That is, my brother Ant, who has deeper pockets than me, will back it, albeit as a business venture. And indeed, I think it will be a worthwhile contribution to folk music literature. I doubt I'll ever find such a rich subject-matter again, and the things I'm uncovering are far, far from the official version, which is what happens when you start talking to people as opposed to reading books.

My contact number, if you have any info to share, remains 0161 226 5461. The Mudcat community will be the first to know when the book is available.

Thanks for the support and interest, your would-be-Leader-writer, Mike