British folk guitarists

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 46. Chapters: English folk guitarists, Ralph McTell, Ritchie Blackmore, Leo Abrahams, Jake Thackray, Simon Nicol, Davey Graham, Martin Carthy, Nic Jones, Charlie Landsborough, John Renbourn, Michael Chapman, Martin Simpson, Rod Clements, Maggie Holland, John James, Wizz Jones, David Thomas Broughton, Jim Causley, Ken Nicol, Tim Hart, Sally Barker, Al Jones, Steve Tilston, Matt Butcher, Gordon Giltrap, Steve Knightley, Steve Benbow, Jez Lowe, Marcus Mumford, Elton Hayes, Ian Carr, Chris Foster, Reg Meuross, Dave Peabody, Peerie Willie Johnson, Bob Johnson, Beau, Robert Lawrence. Excerpt: Ralph McTell (born Ralph May in Farnborough, Kent, England, 3 December 1944 and raised in Croydon) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. Ralph McTell is best known for the song "Streets of London", which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world. In the 1980s he wrote and played songs for two TV children's programmes, Alphabet Zoo, which also featured Nerys Hughes, followed by Tickle On The Tum, featuring Jacqueline Reddin. Albums were also released from both series. He also recorded the theme song to Cosgrove Hall's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows with Keith Hopwood, and this was released as a single in 1984 after the series was aired on ITV. McTell's guitar playing has been modelled on the style of the USA's country blues guitar players of the early 20th century, including Blind Blake, Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell. These influences led a friend to suggest that he change his professional name to McTell as his career was beginning to take shape. McTell's mother, Winifred (née Moss), was born in Hammersmith, London. During the Second World War she was living in Banbury, Oxfordshire, with her sister Olive when she met Frank May. They married in 1943 while Frank was home on leave from the army. Winifred moved to Croydon, Surrey, and McTell was born on December 3, 1944 in Farnborough, Kent. He was named after Ralph Vaughan Williams - Frank had worked as the composer's gardener before the war. A second son, Bruce, was born in 1946. Frank was demobilized, but after a year or so at home, he walked out on his family in 1947. Winifred was left to support herself and bring up the boys unaided. She told McTell's biographer, "I remember Ralph saying to me quite soon after Frank left us, 'I'll look after you, Mummy'. I guess he'd got used to Frank being away all his short life." But despite their father's desertion and the consequent poverty, Ra