Did any one see this, shown a few weeks back on BBC4? I’d vaguely heard or Rory McEwen but hadn’t realised he had such an interesting life. I’ve just checked, it’s still there with 14 days left to run. One of his daughters married Jools Holland after her father’s death. So Jools never met his father-in-law but does a nice job in presenting this fascinating 30 minute documentary

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05270hv/secret-knowledge-13-in-search-of-rory-mcewen

In short, he had a Scottish aristocratic upbringing, got into US folk-blues very early, did a Leadbelly-inspred road trip with his brother, appeared with said brother on the Ed Sullivan show way before the Beatles, came home to get his own folk show on British TV. Gave all that up to become a world class botanical artist. Hung about with groovy artistic types, died tragically early

Apart from Rory’s achievements the bit that surprised me most was the clip of Cliff Michelmore who I remember as being seen as a bit of a breath of fresh air at the time; a more man-of-the-people approach to BBC presenting. The bit where he says “one of these young people is now beck in this country” makes me wonder what it must » Continue Reading.