Derek, so Anderson did exist - but he may not have known "Scarborough Fair"!

Perhaps they did interview his family and came up with nothing about the song. The whole question would be too complicated and distracting for a 30-minute radio program to deal with.

I'm interested in the MacColl "hallmarks" you mention. Melodic I assume?

Jack, "(b) sexual availability." How would anybody pick up on that just from "Scarborough Fair"? (I'd have thought "Foggy, Foggy Dew" would have worked better; but even then....)

"Mystery," "ancient voices," "pilgrimage," "sensing the song as they go," "journey," "learning to sing it" - obviously in ways no one can in London. Regardless of the program's actual content, the sort of audience the writers appear to have been targeting was mostly young women high on the New Age and "Puck of Pook's Hill."