"Or perhaps a more left-wing alternative; the News Chronicle Community Song Book?)"

Actually The News Chronicle Songbook sits on my bookshelf right next to the Daily Express volume - both came from my grandmother's house. The selections are eclectic: the Express book, under 'J' has 'Jesu, lover of my soul', followed by 'John Brown's Body', then 'Johnny Come Down to Hilo' and 'John Peel'.

According to the preface to the Express song book, up to fifty thousand people were gathering on a regular basis at football grounds throughout the country, to have a good community sing. And that doesn't mean football chants.

In my early years in the folk scene, there was a certain snobbery about songs like 'Lincolnshire Poacher' rather like that which has surrounded 'The Wild Rover' for many years. The former has been rehabilitated now to some extent, I think.