Shirley Collins tells how ‘heartbreaking’ divorce stole her singing voice. The folk legend told The Big Issue her split from Ashley Hutchings left her so “wretched with sorrow” she couldn’t continue her career.

“I’m so ashamed of it now,” she said. “If I could go back, I would tell my younger self to stand up for herself. I should have spoken out and been tougher.”

The full Letter To My Younger Self is set to appear in The Big Issue available from Monday 29 May. Shirley Collins’s new album Archangel Hill is out now on Domino. shirleycollins.com