Britain is no longer a country for and says "Farewell" to an old English guitar player called John Renbourn

John, who redefined folk music in the 1960s by introducing elements from classical, jazz and blues into his soulful guitar playing and is remembered for his career with 'Pentangle', has died at the age of seventy.

What you possibly didn't know about John, that he :

* was born John McCombe in 1944 during the Second World War in Marylebone, West London and grew up for his first six years without a father, killed in action in the War, in a middle class family where, "everyone played something or other" and one wealthy enough to own and house a classical piano, indicated when he recalled : "My Mother played light-classical pieces on the piano, which also served as the family bomb-shelter during the air raids. I recall her playing with great fondness and still play an arrangement of Schumann's 'Im Wunderschonen Monat Mai' on the guitar." http://ow.ly/KY8NN

* by the age of 5 was playing a banjo and at 6, gained a step-father, Edward Renbourn, an Army physician, when his Mother remarried and moved to his new home in Surrey and despite his stepfather's disapproval of his love of Roy Rogers, the 'Singing Cowboy' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLoYFvbR0XY&t=1m5s , got his first guitar at 11 and had private 'classical guitar' lessons at the age of 12 from a woman who taught him to play "with my thumb and three fingers in a very orthodox way" and at George Abbot Secondary School, in Guildford and recalled : "I took music lessons with a patient man named John Webber who introduced me to Early Music which had yet to become part of the curriculum. At the same time I sat my grade exams on classical guitar at the Guildhall, presided over by Adele Kramer."

* recalled, when he was 11 : "I heard Josh White the blues singer about 1955. I used to go hear him play and that’s what got me going. I wanted to play just like Josh White” who, with his left-wing views, was in Britain , in exile for five years from a USA in the grip of anti-communism and no doubt heard him play his 1947 hit, 'House of the Rising Sun'. http://ow.ly/KYaym

* and in his early teens in the late 1950s, came under the influence of the 'skiffle' musical craze which swept the country with its amalgam of American folk, blues, bluegrass and jugband styles and enthused teenagers with its big hit, 'Freight Train' by the 'Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group', when he was 13 in 1957. http://ow.ly/KWsXi

* in the backstreets of Guildford, bought his  'first playable steel-string guitar. It cost me five pounds and was an object of wonder and beauty. It was a Scarth...It had its little idiosyncrasies - the action went up and down according to the weather, which could be counteracted by wedging a lollypop stick under the neck - a feature that merely added to its mystique' and filed down ping-pong balls to use as artificial nails and give his sound more resonance and fifty years later said : "People tell me I'm living in the Dark Ages. I'm scorned for using these old ping-pong balls, but they work, there's nothing much wrong with them, apart from the fact they're flammable."

* at the age of 17 in 1961, after mounting fiction with his step-father, who disapproved his pursuit of a career in music, left school and left home : “He’s the reason I had to clear out and leave home early, just to get out of that bad environment", went hitch-hiking and ended up in the north of Scotland, making money working in kitchens, peeling potatoes, before moving to London, where he began mingling with budding young guitarists like Mac MacLeod.

* living on an old boat on the River Thames, in the early 60's, attended, 'fairly frequently' , but failed to graduate from Kingston College of Art and later reflected : "The Art Schools seemed to be turning out more musicians than artists at that time. The Yardbirds were at Kingston, as were Eric Clapton and Sandy Denny. The R 'n' B craze had replaced skiffle and the best band was considered to be Alexis Korner's 'Blues Incorporated' " and played in, a College R 'n' B band, 'Hog Snort Rupert's Famous Porkestra', using a borrowed electric guitar and "found that some of the band's riffs sounded interesting played fingerstyle on an acoustic guitar and pieces like 'The Wildest Pig In Captivity' came out of that." http://ow.ly/KWMhv

* left Kingston, lived in a flat in West London with what remained of the band, but found that : "Things were not looking too promising. Though the British 'Folk Revival' was underway, most of the clubs had a heavily traditional bias and guitar players were often frowned upon. It took the collaboration of Davey Graham and Shirley Collins to start to change that, but it was a rocky process."

* by good fortune, was taken to the Roundhouse in Soho which had a more 'open' musical policy, played a few tunes and met Dorris Henderson, a blues and gospel singer from Los Angeles, looking for a guitar player with a trusty Scarth and as a result recorded 'There You Go' on the first of two albums as her accompanist. http://ow.ly/KWusk

* secured a regular spot on an ITV weekly children's show, 'Five O'clock Club' with Alexis Korner's house band, met his bassist Danny Thompson and drummer Terry Cox and at the same time found 'Les Cousins Club' in Greek Street, a meeting place for the guitar players and song writers unwelcome in the traditional clubs and with the added bonus of continuing his education by meeting visiting American artists and recalled : "I had the chance to hear some great players. Derrol Adams, Sandy Bull, Jackson Frank, Paul Simon, Spider John Koerner, Danny Kalb and Stefan Grossman all showed up at some stage and there was a healthy interchange of ideas."

* in 1964, "came across a poster for a Bert Jansch gig in 'Bunjies Coffee Bar', advertised as  ‘THE BEST BLUES IN TOWN' while having a drink with Wizz Jones, who was already well established and asked him : "Who's this guy that plays the best blues in town? We’re supposed to be the best blues in town." He said it was "Bert Jansch and he’s really good" and coming from Wizz that was unheard of. So we went along to see him and he was fantastic. Not at just playing blues, which he could play like Brownie McGhee, but the stuff he had written, which was way ahead of anything else being done in London. He was really, really out there.” http://ow.ly/KYjBr


* in 1965 at the age of 21, when he was "trying to play a bit and not getting anywhere because nobody wanted me in the folk clubs", met Nat Joseph who, at 21 in 1961, had founded 'Transatlantic Records' as  importer of American folk, blue and jazz records and recalled : "my prettiest girlfriend came with me for good luck and we walked up to the boss's home in highest Hampstead from deepest Kilburn" and recalled : "when Nat took that record of mine, it really helped me in life, so I was very, very grateful to him” and "It was a great moment for me when that record came out - a big smudgy brown LP with my picture on the front of my five quid guitar with a lollypop stick holding the neck up, and my name in letters, spelt right. It set me on the road to fame and fortune, even if it didn't get me more than the statutory two per cent." http://ow.ly/KYlmx

* by 1966 had joined forces with Bert Jansch, who had played a couple of tracks on his first eponymous album and with whom he shared a flat and together they created a style which became known as 'folk baroque' and recalled "the domestic record companies were getting interested in what was going on in the world of 'Folk' and Transatlantic sent out their recording engineer with a tape machine to capture the 'authentic' sounds on location in deepest South London and recorded 'Bert And John' http://ow.ly/KWgE6 with blankets tacked up in the hallway to keep out the noise of their neighbours" and remembered Bill Leader "coming over to a pad I shared with Bert, setting up the tape machine in the sink and having us play in the broom cupboard."

* was now playing a 'Gibson J-50', bought from an American serviceman at an airbase and by the time he released his second solo album, 'Another Monday' in 1967, had started to play with Jacqui McShee, who in addition to American material, sang versions of British traditional songs as well as playing with Bert at 'Les Cousins' "where Alexis would come down with a trio and it was a natural progression to ask Danny and Terry to join and we found that we had a lot of musical common ground and we became a band. We called ourselves 'Pentangle' after the emblem on Sir Gawain's shield in the story of the Green Knight. The music was a loose mixture of all our influences, initially much of it improvised on the stand."

* performed "public rehearsals" with 'Pentangle' in the Horseshoe Hotel in Tottenham Court Road and made their concert debut at the Royal Festival Hall in 1967. http://ow.ly/KWy37 and http://ow.ly/KWykP

* saw 'The Pentangle' album "picked up by Warner Bros. in America and things started happening fast. We toured America in 1968 playing prestigious gigs like Carnegie Hall" and in 1969 played with his semi-acoustic Gibson 335 at the Newport Folk Festival "which was nice as we finally got to meet some of the old timers including Jesse Fuller himself. We also played the Fillmores, East and West, working alongside James Taylor and The Grateful Dead."

 * found that “from potato peeling to staying in one of the most wonderful hotels in New York on an expensive campaign by Warner Brothers was a change" and "We were so amazed by the whole thing it was like funny really, a joke. Mock-English airs and graces we were wondering around pretending we were Lord Fauntleroy”, but also “that touring lifestyle is very gruelling and it didn’t take long for everyone to be absolutely wrecked.”

* continued to pursue his solo career with his album, 'Sir John Alot' in 1968 with its mixture of jazz, folk and blues and “Since I could already read and write music and had an academic background, I threw in some things that sounded a lot different. Nat didn’t exercise any control over what you recorded, so those pieces like ‘Sir John A lot...’ stood out from the rest as being a bit different from the folky-blues things, and it was a direction that felt much more me.” http://ow.ly/KWA6x

* in 1969 saw Pentangle's third album, 'Basket of Light', take them into the charts when the opening track, 'Light  Flight', chosen as theme tune for the BBC TV series, 'Take Three Girls' http://ow.ly/KWzfG but unwilling to be classed with the emergent group of 'folk artists', used 'The Lady And The Unicorn' in 1970, to express his interest in 'Early Music' and "made instrumental arrangements of songs that I had learned from Jacqui." http://ow.ly/KWANE

* recalled that in 1971, at the age of 27 : "When I thought I was about to leave 'Transatlantic' for good I made a sort of "goodbye and thank you" album 'Faro Annie' - folk-blues side of me ten years on, as if to round things off "
 http://ow.ly/KWBjm

* by the time Pentangle split up in 1973, after their last album, 'Solomon's Seal', http://ow.ly/KWDYZ ,had seen the group's career span six albums, tv appearances, three movie soundtracks, including Roddy McDowall's 'Tam Lin' in 1970 http://ow.ly/KYrfI as well as several American and world tours and continued his solo career and interest in 'Early Music' with 'The Hermit' in 1976. http://ow.ly/KWEbc

* worked again with Jaquie McShee to form 'The John Renbourn Group' which integrated Indian tabla with guitar and jazz reeds, produced 'A Maid in Bedlam' in 1977 and then after three years, 'Enchanted Garden and 'Live in America' http://ow.ly/KWGGn in 1980 and later recalled : "We were taped playing at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and the recording 'Live In America' earned us a 'Grammy Nomination' in the Folk Music category. We were pipped at the post by Queen Ida but we all felt that was fair enough."

* returned to 'Transatlantic' in 1979  playing a Guild D-55 : "when I came wandering in again, new shoes and all, it seemed right to start with an album of the other type of music I had been encouraged to pursue. I called that album 'Black Balloon', mainly because that was the logo of the Transatlantic label. It was a way of saying it was good to be back." http://ow.ly/KYtLk

* in the late 70s collaborated with American guitarist Stefan Grossman and recorded  two albums which recalled his baroque days with Bert. http://ow.ly/KWELJ
 

* in 1982 started a three year degree couse in 'Composition and Orchestration' at Dartington College of Arts in Devon where :" the most wonderful aspect was the range of music covered by the course, much of which I had scarcely been aware of. It was an awesome experience but not without its lighter side. To keep my hand in I still took the occasional gig whenever I could. These usually passed without comment but special dispensation had to be applied for in order to re-sit my second year exams when it was discovered that they clashed with a concert with Doc Watson at the Carnegie Hall."

* in 1984 formed a partnership with guitarist Wizz Jones and added acoustic guitars to the soundtrack of the Michael Winner movie,  'Scream For Help', http://ow.ly/KYwbz a studio project with his neighbour, John Paul Jones, and in 1988, at the age of 44,  returned to the ensemble format and  his interest in Celtic music when he "was asked to put together a band for a concert in New York's Central Park. Maggie Boyle (vocals) and Steve Tilston  (guitar) joined Tony Roberts (flute) and myself and we called ourselves 'Ship of Fools' after Sebastian Brant's early moralistic commentary, recording one album under that name for Flying Fish." http://ow.ly/KWHE2

* in 2005, at the age of 61, made his 'fifth' tour of Japan with Tokio Uchida and Woody Mann and the following year played venues in England and made appearances with Robin Williamson "whom I had known from the early days before the Incredible String Band and the Pentangle took to the road" and with Jacqui McShee collaborated on the score for the film 'Driving Lessons' starring Julie Walters. http://ow.ly/KWI3D

* in 2010 was honoured by the Martin Company with their production of a new guitar, his "own signature model. It’s a gem. The specs sheet tells a lot, but not all. The playability and sound are in the hyperbole class. I’m one lucky plunker."

* in 2011, released, what was to be his last album, 'Palermo Snow', featuring clarinetist Dick Lee with the title track a complex mix of classical, folk, jazz and blues and a Arabic/Mediterranean sound evoked by his stay in the city  while in concert, during a rare snowfall in the Sicilian city when : "Everyone seemed to be entranced, going about like sleepwalkers as a spooky silence hung in the air. It is hard to forget being there and witnessing a big, bustling city held in thrall by a fall of snow." http://ow.ly/KWILI

* had taught guitar at Dartington College and  settled into the role of guitar tutor, able to demonstrate guitar styles of the 1960s with consummate ease : https://vimeo.com/71981025 and had workshops in picturesque locations : the foot hills of the Pyrenees, Andalucia, Dordogne and  Crete and commented that : “It’s just total bliss. I’m doing more or less what I wanted to do and now I do workshops rather than shows” and “If someone wants to come in their Bentley and stay in the Hilton they can, or if they want to hitchhike and sleep rough they can do that."


* since 2012, had toured with Wizz Jones, playing a mixture of solo and duo material and played nine gigs with him at table Lodge in Derbyshire in March http://ow.ly/LBrgY and was set to return to Crete for a guitar workshop in May when he died at his home in Hawick, Scotland. : http://ow.ly/KWJeT

* was paid tribute by John Cole in his review of 'Palermo Snow' in 2011 :

' In his remarkable duets with Bert Jansch and their work together in Pentangle, he could travel effortlessly from Renaissance music to jazz. He could play a salterello and he could play Mingus. In everything he did, Renbourn was a soulful player. He made it easy to be a fan.'

What better epitaph might an old guitar player have than :
                    'He made it easy to be a fan.'
Looking back on his life at 69 said : “What stands out for me was meeting the musicians I adore myself. I can’t believe how fantastic it was. One of my first gigs was with Jesse Fuller, the 12 string guy, I remember every second of it. Years later I met Doc Watson and that was just out of this world. I also met T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker.” 

 

Britain is no longer a country for and says "Farewell" to a once feted and now forgotten, old classical pianist, called Peter Katin

Peter, who played piano continuously for eighty years, from the age of 4 in 1930, through to his public performance at the Etchingham Music Festival last summer and with his prodigious and understated talent, thrilled millions who listened to him live, on air and in recordings, has died at the age of 85.

What you possibly didn't know about Peter, that he :

* was born in London in 1930, the son of an English mother, a shop assistant before marriage, who he remembered as being "maniacally possessive" and "unmusical" and Jewish father, Jerold, a brass engraver, who was estranged from his from his Russian parents, Orthodox in religion, when he married Gertude, a Christian.


* started playing the piano and 'Three Blind Mice' by ear at the age of four, before receiving lessons at the age of six, from a "very disagreeable teacher from my local school" who rapped him over the knuckles and was no doubt thrilled, when he went with his family to hear went to hear Rachmaninov play his Second Piano Concerto at Queen's Hall before he was nine years old and the Second World War broke out in 1939.

* evacuated from London during the Blitz, went to a private school in Caterham, Surrey, where his music teacher was of a "kinder disposition" and another in East Grinstead, where he was Head Chorister in the local church and played privately for Harold Craxton, Professor at the Royal Academy of Music who, on occasion, had been accompanist to Nellie Melba and Clara Butt.

* returned to London with the family after the worst of the Blitz was over and at the age of 12 was accepted, four years before normal, by the Royal Academy of Music's 'Senior Department' and at 13, auditioned for the newly-formed 'Westminster Abbey Choir' and was accepted as 'Head Chorister' and at the age of 14, appeared in a BBC feature, 'Boy's Big Chance', hosted by Jean Metcalfe, who introduced him as an "up and coming composer. He's going to play us a prelude of his own composition." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWotiDqwkYE&t=1m10s

* at the age of 17, recalled playing for Myra Hess one afternoon for three hours : "I was a very inhibited player. I couldn't even talk about music and she said I was 'playing to myself' and she went to the other end of the room and said : "Now play the beginning of the Chopin Schezo again. Play it to me. Don't just make a noise. Speak up and play it to me." And I did and she said : "That's better. That's what you must do" and "Myra's abrasive manner aside, I learned more in three long afternoons than I ever learned anywhere else." https://vimeo.com/6404501 at 6.28

* left the Royal Academy at the age of 18 in 1948 and without funds for further study, either prizes, private grants or a scholarship to go abroad : "had to stay where I was and I made it a point to meet and play to all the concert pianists I admired. To play for them and talk with them for an afternoon, really taught me the kind of thing I wanted to know. There was technical refinement to bring out. There was interpretive confidence that I needed."

* also at the age of 18, made his debut performance at Wigmore Hall playing Scarletti, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Skryabin and Chopin and the following year met Clifford Curzon who was as exacting as Myra Hess "but in a way that finally fired my awareness of what I had been missing and my enthusiasm about what now had to be done."

* at the age of 21 in 1951, appeared in the Royal Albert Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra, played 'Beethoven No.4' and received an enthusiastic review in 'The Times', reprised the music the following year with the London Mozart Players in the Royal Festival Hall with a similar critical response and in the same year, successfully auditioned for his first Prom playing 'Tchaikovsky No.2' with Sir Malcolm Sargent.

* in 1952, met the Chilean keyboard master, Claudio Arrau, who gave him a different approach when he was depressed about his playing : "I shall never forget the emphasis he laid on the absolute necessity of appreciating all forms of art, saying that whatever I saw or heard would influence my work."

* in 1953, in his second Prom, intended to play Beethoven No.2 and was "devastated" when the BBC insisted on "a towering romantic work", 'Rachmaninov No.3', instead, but met the challenge, received a five minute applause and later recalled : "I had the sort of reviews that people would kill for and only afterwards, I realised that my previous classical image had been thrown out of the window" and on a wave of success, two years later, at the age of 25 played 'Malcolm Lipkin's 4th Sonata', specially written for him, at the Cheltenham Festival of Contemporary Music.

* did not suffer from pre-concert nerves, except when playing something for the first time, but didn't want to talk to anyone in the hour before a performance and did smoke 50 cigarettes a day (until he gave up in 1970) and once said : "There is also the feeling, often not realised, that two things are happening when one walks on the stage. One is that the artist is greeting the audience and the other is that the audience is greeting the artist. There's no enmity, there's nothing to be afraid of. Normally I am dying to get on the stage and start playing and with a warm-hearted audience, what more can an artist want ?"

* in 1954 at the age of 24, married fellow pianist, .Eva Zweig, who had spent the War in Siberia in Stalin's Russia, who gave him his first son in 1955 and still riding a wave of success, in the following year he appeared on BBC Radio's 'Desert Island Discs' with Roy Plumley and chose Da Vinci's 'Virgin of the Rocks' as his 'one luxury' and in the mid 1950s, worked with the Italian violinist, Alfredo Campoli, gave concerts, made broadcasts for the BBC and recorded for Decca Records and in 1958 was the first British pianist to make a solo tour in the in the post-Second World Soviet Union and thee years later had a 'Tango' written for him by Bryan Kelly in 1961.

* having taught piano students privately from the age of 18 in 1948, did so formally from 1956 - 59, at the Royal Academy of Music and from 1968- 84, in his home studio gave a regular series of 'master classes' and with the help of Eva, a series of yearly recitals to give young artists a 'platform' prior to a London debut and recalled : "These weren't all piano recitals. We had a lot of chamber music, young singers, even Balinese dancing and every Christmas we would arrange a totally mad evening to give artists a chance to let their hair down."

* in 1962, had his recording of Brahm's Piano Concerto No1 in D minor, Op.15, used by Bryan Forbes as background music in his Leslie Caron film, 'The L-Shaped Room' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OID6tcCdtm4&t=3m28s

* in 1967 recorded 'Liszt Six Consolations' http://ow.ly/KKYr1 and in 1968 the 'Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 3' with the Prague Symphony Orchestra  http://ow.ly/KKKuo and in 1972 'Chopin Waltz in C-sharp minor Op. 64 No. 2'  ttp://ow.ly/KKLh7

* in the 1970s, gave his first Chopin recital at the and in 1972, gave a Schubert recital with Ilse Wolf and in the same decade, three recitals with Victoria de los Angeles in Barcelona, Warsaw and the Festival Hall and less successfully, in 1974, as a supporter for the 'Campaign for Homosexual Equality' had his planned a benefit concert in Tunbridge Wells banned by the local council.

* in 1978, at the age of 48, eschewed further success in Britain measured by : having appeared in the Proms on 25 occasions and went to Canada to work in the University of Western Ontario and gave a recital there in 1983 "which included the best performance of the Liszt Sonata that I had ever given, or expected to give" and in the same year gave a recital with a student, tenor Kevin McMillan, which included Schumann's 'Dicterliebe'

* also in 1983, played a Chopin recital in Abraham Goodman House in New York "at which I was greeted like a pop star" and had his performance judged by theas : 'This was no indiscriminate grab-bag of war horses. Every piece that Mr Katin played reveals to composer at, or near the peak of his powers.'

* returned to Britain in 1984, but was uncomfortable with aspects of the social climate : "I picked up a copy of 'The Gramaphone' and found naked ladies over the cellos and it dawned on me that the whole scene had changed. The rot was every where", but broke new ground in his music and having "not seen much in Grieg", in the late 1980s, made a series of recordings in Oslo and "through the atmosphere, I began to see it having a stronger and darker character than the prettiness that one so often hears."

* in 1985 recorded Scalatti's Piano Sonata in E-Flat Major, K193 http://ow.ly/KKXDq and in 1992 provided the solo piano in the BBC Screen Two production of Muriel Spark's 'Momento Mori'.

* from 1992 taught at the Royal College of Music where he was awarded a doctorate in 1994, performed at music clubs and self-funded recitals, but found the major orchestras had forgotten him and the Director of the Proms decided to "freeze me out" and disillusioned that "the mafia now calling the shots derives its power not from musical expertise, but from money", in 1997 at the age of 67, "formed my own 'Trio' and could no longer moan about lack of work" and renewed his interest in Lieder and enjoyed three years of chamber music, neglected during his virtuoso years.

* after its foundation in 1995, gave fourteen recitals for the benefit of the 'Chernobyl Children's Project' set up to provide recuperatve holdays for children in Britain with, or in remission from, cancer and other chronic conditions and was still teaching at the Royal College of Music at the age of 68 in 1998.

* played for the last time at the Wigmore Hall at the age of 74 in 2004 with the 'Daily Telegraph' gently noting that in Mozart 'his refined sense of phrasing was still there' but the Guardian more harshly judging that, what he 'gave his audience was a ghost of a recital, a shadow of the technique and musicality which has sustained his earlier career' and 'there was something painful about watching a formerly brilliant pianist struggle with the decline of his technical gifts. Even if his spirit was willing, his body could not translate his musical imagination onto the keyboard.'

* at the age of 84 in the Summer of 2014, was still playing the dual role of performer and patron at 'Etchingham Music Festival' with a programme of Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy and Chopin.

* back in 1994, at the age of 64, had been awarded an honorary doctorate at de Montfort University in recognition  of :
'The distinction and the outstanding contribution he had  made to music in the classical tradition.'

which had pleased him no end and to which he responded :

             "I doubt if I can want more than that"

                                                               

                                               

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Britain is a country with 93,000 homeless children and a tireless, old film director called Ken Loach, still adding a passionate voice to public outrage

At the 'Homes for Britain' Campaign Rally yesterday, around 2,300 activists gathered in the Central Methodist Hall, Westminster, in the largest rally yet, to protest against Britain's failure to address shortage of affordable housing and hear solutions to the housing crisis from the main political parties.

Ken, a keynote speaker, is seventy-eight years old and has made films over the last 50 years, noted for their social realism, driven by his left-wing views and often  denied the accolades in Britain which they have been granted in Europe. After rapturous applause, he addressed the audience :
"When 'Cathy Come Home' was made, homelessness was a major issue. Husbands were separated from their families because they had no home, there was terrible poverty accommodation, it was a horror story. It is much worse now, much worse now. 93,000 kids homeless. What a disgrace in this rich country. Tens of thousands of families have their lives in chaos and the politicians who are speaking have allowed it to happen. I am really unhappy with some of these people because they have got us here.”

Almost half a century ago in his thirties, back in the 1960's, he mad ten 'Wednesday Plays', for BBC TV, including the docudrama 'Cathy Come Home' http://ow.ly/Kv7pg in 1966.. The story focused on a family devastated by homelessness, evicted from their home and surviving in illegal squats.
 
The 'Homes For Britain' Rally, backed by 300 organisations : developers, estate agents, social landlords and charities, sought pledges that, whichever Party formed the next Government after the General Election in May, it would deliver a long-term plan, within a year, to resolve the housing crisis. The Campaign claims that in England, house building figures hovered below the 125,000 mark for the sixth year in a row in 2014, the lowest peacetime levels since the 1920s and that for decades, only half the 245,000 homes needed have been built.

Ken's solution was radical : “End the bedroom tax, cut rents and stop the housing benefit money going into the pockets of the rich landlords. We need a massive house building programme with directly employed labour, directly employed planners and architects. Let’s bring some democracy back to housing.” He invoked the spirit of the post-Second War programme of building carried out by Aneurin Bevan in the 1940s.

After his speech he said : "There are no comparable figures for the housing situation in '66 to now, but all the indications are that it's much, much worse. I mean there are 93,000 children categorised as 'homeless' and you think of their life chances, how they're diminished by having nowhere to call 'home' and as someone has just said, "having a house is a prerequisite for building a decent life". In one way they've got worse is not a surprise because the shifting consciousness was with the Thatcher Government which says the market will provide, but the market has not provided and will never provide. It'll provide big profits for the big building companies. It gives us the grotesque crisis in West London, the poor families being moved out and being moved to areas in the country where it's cheap, so that they lose all their family infrastructure and, if you rely on the market, it cannot plan." http://ow.ly/KuW8r

Ken, whose commitment, over the last fifty years, to use film to highlight social and political injustice, past and present and help create a fairer society has met with intermittent success, has meant that he :

* in 1967, followed 'Cathy Come Home' with 'Poor Cow' : http://ow.ly/Kvb0y in which the central character who, married young, has a child with an abusive thief and, after his imprisonment, embarked on a series of failed relationships until her son goes missing and she briefly comes to grips with what is most important to her.

* found his 1967 documentary : 'The Save the Children Fund Film' so disliked by the charity, that it cancelled the screening and attempted to have the negative destroyed, but in 1969 made 'Kes' http://ow.ly/KvbEA, the story of a troubled boy and his kestrel and later saw it rated as 'Number 7' by the British Institute in the list of 'Best British films of the Twentieth Century'.

* was commissioned by Channel 4 in 1981, to make 'A Question of Leadership', a documentary series on the response of the British Trades Union Movement to the challenge posed by the policies of Margaret Thatcher's Government and concluded that the decision not to screen the programmes was 'politically motivated'.

* directed 'Which Side Are You On?' http://ow.ly/KvvZ7  in 1985, about the songs and poems of the 1984-85 Miners Strike for ITV' and saw it also withdrawn from transmission, only to see it broadcast after it won a major prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

* in 1990 saw his  'Hidden Agenda' http://ow.ly/Kvwzf, dealing with the political troubles in Northern Ireland, receive acclaim and 'Riff-Raff' based on working class work, life and love http://ow.ly/KvxEu in 1991, win the 'Felix Award for Best European Film' and in  2006, won the 'Palme d'Or' at Cannes for 'The Wind That Shakes the Barley' http://ow.ly/Kvy0r , about the Irish War of Independence against the British during the 1920s.

* in 2012, released 'The Angel's Share' http://ow.ly/KvyD0, about a young Scottish troublemaker, given one final opportunity to stay out of jail, receive the 'Jury Prize' at the Cannes and two years later saw 'Jimmy's Hall' about political activist, Jimmy Gralton, deported from Ireland during the 'Red Scare' in the 1930s, selected to compete for the 'Palme d'Or' in the 2014 Festival : http://ow.ly/KvzrC

* in his 2013 documentary, 'The Spirit of '45' focused on the way the spirit of unity, which had buoyed Britain during the Second World War and spilt over to create a fairer more cohesive post-War Britain : http://ow.ly/KvDX0

* has said :

"A movie isn't a political movement, a party or even an article. It's just a film. At best it can add its voice to public outrage".