Great Lives

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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Factual: Life Stories

Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

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Great Lives: Peggy Seeger on her husband Ewan MacColl

Peggy Seeger on her husband Ewan MacColl

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Peggy Seeger on her husband Ewan MacColl

Ewan MacColl - folk singer and labour activist - was born Jimmy Miller in Salford in 1915.

Peggy Seeger picks the man she was with for 30 years - Ewan MacColl, folk singer and labour activist.

Ewan MacColl sang "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" to Peggy Seeger down the phone. When they met, Peggy says, he was in the grip of his midlife crisis. "I'm fond of saying the poor boy didn't stand a chance," she tells Matthew Parris. This programme is her attempt to set the record straight. "I'd like to do a bit of justice to him, because there's an awful lot of myths, an awful lot of bad talk, misunderstandings."

Ewan MacColl was born Jimmy Miller in Salford, which he wrote about in 1949 in his song, "Dirty Old Town." He made his name in theatre, was married to Joan Littlewood, and after the Second World War he was a powerful force behind the folk revival. He also with Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker created the famous Radio Ballads. Peggy is joined in discussion by Peter Cox, author of Set Into Song. The programme is heavily illustrated with MacColl's music and his voice.

The producer for BBC audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Great Lives

Peggy Seeger on her husband Ewan MacColl

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