Malcolm
Douglas
Malcolm Douglas, (died 2009 from cancer aged 54), had many talents,
but two in particular brought him to national prominence. He had a
compendious knowledge and understanding of traditional folk song
(mainly, but not exclusively, English folk song), and he was a
renowned illustrator and comic artist. He fell into these
contrasting fields by accident, but he treated them with meticulous
attention to detail and a professionalism that belied his lack of
formal training.
He became an illustrator after volunteering
to illustrate a student union newspaper at Sheffield University, and
found that people were prepared to pay him to do what had hitherto
been a hobby. His illustrations featured in a wide range of comics,
of which the best known was Oink; he was also the illustrator of the
footballing devilkin Fred the Red, for five years delighting both
young and old readers of Manchester United match programmes.
For the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) he revised the
evergreen song collection The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs,
originally edited by Ralph Vaughan Williams and AL Lloyd in 1959. In
his new edition, published in 2003 as Classic English Folk Songs, he
corrected previous errors and brought to the book a wealth of
additional detail. He did the same well-researched and comprehensive
review of another of the EFDSS's most successful publications,
Marrow Bones (2007), a collection of folk songs from Dorset and
Hampshire, originally edited by Frank Purslow. He was working on a
third, The Wanton Seed, when he succumbed to illness. He was also
well-known among folk-music enthusiasts for his contributions to the
online forum The Mudcat Café, where he had posted almost 9,000
detailed answers to questions about the most obscure aspects of folk
song and music.
Malcolm was born and brought up in south
London, and after attending Trinity School of John Whitgift in
Croydon, he went to Sheffield University to study French and English
and decided to stay on in the city, which he regarded as his home
town.
He was committed to the principle of the people's
ownership of their cultural heritage and was involved in many
grassroots initiatives, even expressing concern about what he saw as
the over-professionalisation of the folk arts. He was co-host at the
Red Deer folk club in Sheffield for a decade and was active in
regional organisations such as the South Riding Folk Network (SRFN)
and Yorkshire Folk Arts, maintaining websites for both
organisations, editing the SRFN magazine and designing the South
Yorkshire folk magazine Stirrings.
Malcolm was also a
performer, playing the fiddle, mandolin and cittern with various
concert and dance bands, and was a familiar figure at music sessions
in and around Sheffield. He was survived by his mother, Sylph,
and his brother, Ian.
Any contributions to this item will be
gratefully accepted
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