大象传媒

A few of the old-timers are still around, but for fear of their lawyers I will give them a name check only: Taffy Thomas, Vic Legge, Johnny Silvo, Bob Davenport, Bernard Wrigley and Les Barker leap instantly to mind as men with a considerable talent to entertain and amuse.

But many of the giants of the folk scene are long gone; the men (it was mostly men it seems) who thought that it was okay to make us laugh while still singing brilliant songs, are now playing that great gig up in the sky.

Martin Windsor, that six foot plus, goatee-bearded, ex-guardsman who thought nothing of crossing a pub room mid-song to take a ciggy out of a punters mouth and stamp on it saying: "You can bugger up yer own lungs dear chap, but leave mine alone."

Red Sullivan, who with his flaming red hair would insist on the audience not only singing sea shanties but would insist on them doing all the actions (pumping, hauling on ropes, winding the windlass etc.) If he found the audience less than responsive he had a novel way of leaving the stage. I saw him do this one night in the Kingsway pub in Rochdale where the locals were having trouble understanding Red's thick Cockney accent. Donning a sou'wester he poured a pint of beer over his head, fired a starting pistol into the air and shouted: "Ship in distress - goodnight ladies and gentlemen."

Fish Jim (another Lord of Misrule no longer with us) was a fish dealer from Hull and was as tough as old boots. He wore the worst ginger wig you have ever seen, sang his heart out even though his voice was not the prettiest, and often sang such bawdy or politically left-leaning songs that he provoked fights in the audience, in which he gleefully joined.

Tony Capstick was not only a fine singer and a brilliant natural comedian but a most spontaneous and witty man. Once in a Dusseldorf taxi he was told by the driver - on the night Germany beat England in the World Cup - "we have beat you at your national sport." "We beat you at yours twice." was Tony's extremely funny but politically incorrect reply. He walked the rest of the way.

And the others... Ian (Jock) Manuel who sang Bothy Ballads beautifully with the voice of somebody who has been gargling with broken glass and who once stood for election in Hull as the candidate for the Get Stuffed Party. He didn't win, but the returning officer had to read out: "Ian Manuel - Get Stuffed - one hundred and twenty seven votes."

Then there was West Country Boy, Trevor Crozier, who played medieval instruments and wrote that wonderful song, The Piddletrenthide Jug Band, and whose album cover showed him in Edwardian gentleman's dress riding a penny-farthing. The album was called Trouble Over Bridgewater.

And then of course there's Hamish Imlach, Diz Disley, Bob Spray, Jeff Woods... and the bands: Hedgehog Pie, The New Modern Idiot Grunt Band, The Marsden Rattlers, Roaring Jelly, and the Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra.

Someone said I ought to write a book about them all. Perhaps I will. Anybody know a good lawyer?