Bert Lloyd - one of my great heroes
The late , whose 100th Anniversary is to be celebrated in a special one day happening at , is one of my great heroes.
Like Tom Stephenson, the man who devised the and Benny Rothman, who spent six months in jail for his part in the , A.L. (Bert) Lloyd worked away quietly and doggedly for the greater good of the common people. Like Benny and Tom he was a lifelong Socialist, when Socialism wasn't a dirty word.
His work for English folk music and song resulted first of all in The Singing Englishman, a small booklet written for the Festival of Britain and still one of the best introductions to folk music ever written. His great work Folk Song in England took him years of his life to write and is still the work that all subsequent writers have referred to.
I had the good fortune to meet Bert on many occasions and sat transfixed numerous times listening to him singing and talking, singing anything from a great ballad to a bawdy folk song that was more single entendre than double.
He was unstinting with his time, particularly where young singers were concerned, and he helped people like The Watersons, Martin Carthy, Bernard Wrigley and myself with the words and melodies of songs.
He made dozens of albums and helped young singers on in their careers some of whom, not so young now, will be turning up at Cecil Sharp House for 'A Tribute To Bert' to pay their tributes to a great and unassuming human being.
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