WHAT WE’VE LEARNT

Thompson recently discovered he was a distant cousin of Syd Barrett. Their shared ancestor was Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Britain’s first female doctor.

At Detroit airport in 1970, the Fairports were called “goddamn hippies” and “girlies” by six men in cowboy hats who turned out to be Buck Owens And The Buckaroos. A big fan, Thompson confounded them by asking for autographs.

Disco passed Thompson by. “The whole idea of dancing to records seemed bizarre to me,” he admits.

During the Fairports’ set at 1970’s Yorkshire Folk, Blues & Jazz Festival, Dave Swarbrick urinated through a hole in the plastic sheeting at the side of the stage – directly into the press enclosure.