Leon Rosselson (born 22 June 1934, Harrow,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, England) is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, in the BBC's topical TV programme of the early 1960s, ''

That Was The Week That Was ''That Was the Week That Was'', informally ''TWTWTW'' or ''TW3'', is a satirical television comedy programme that aired on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced, and directed by Ned Sherrin and Jack (aka John) Duncan, and pr ...

''. He toured Britain and abroad, singing mainly his own songs and accompanying himself with acoustic guitar. In later years, he has published 17 children's books, the first of which, ''Rosa's Singing Grandfather'', was shortlisted in 1991 for the Carnegie Medal. He continues to write and perform his own songs, and to collaborate with other musicians and performers. Most of his material includes some sort of satirical content or elements of

radical politics Radical politics denotes the intent to transform or replace the principles of a society or political system, often through social change, structural change, revolution or radical reform. The process of adopting radical views is termed radic ...

Early life

Rosselson was born and brought up in North London, lived in

Tufnell Park Tufnell Park is an area in north London, England, in the London boroughs of London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Camden, Camden. The neighbourhood is served by Tufnell Park tube station on the Northern Line. History ...

and attended Parliament Hill Grammar School. His Jewish parents came to England as refugees from the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He studied at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University. In his teens and twenties he played competitive chess, including representing his school, county and university.

Folk years

Rosselson got involved in folk music while at Cambridge University, joining the university folk club The St Lawrence Society, during which time he also started writing songs. Rosselson joined the London Youth Choir, formed by John Hasted and Eric Winter, which went to a number of World Youth Festivals in the 1950s. At the end of that decade, two Scotsmen, Robin Hall (1936–1998) and Jimmie Macgregor (born 1930), came to London and teamed up with Shirley Bland (Jimmie's wife) and Leon Rosselson to form a quartet called The Galliards. Rosselson played five string

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

and guitar and did most of the arrangements. Their repertoire consisted of folk songs. They made an EP and two LPs for

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

(''Scottish Choice'' and ''A-Roving'') and one LP for the American label,

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

. They also made a single for Topic of the Dave Arkin/ Earl Robinson song "The Ink Is Black". The group broke up in 1963. In 1964, Rosselson joined Marian Mackenzie, Ralph Trainer and

Martin Carthy Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, as well as later ar ...

(later replaced by Roy Bailey) in a group called The Three City Four. They concentrated on contemporary songs, including some of Rosselson's own, and made two LPs for Decca and for CBS.

That Was The Week That Was

Britain's satire boom began on 24 November 1962 with the debut of a late-night Saturday television series called ''

'', hosted by

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

. It featured some of Rosselson's early satirical songs. The programme ran until 1963.

Folk club singer

His song "Tim McGuire" (who loved to play with fire), written during this period, was the subject of a complaint from the Chairman of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

Fire Brigades when it was played a number of times on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio. The BBC, however, refused to ban the song, despite the protests, because (they said) the pyromaniac does get caught in the end. An earlier recording, though, the Topic EP ''Songs for City Squares'', was labelled 'for restricted listening only' by the BBC.

With Roy Bailey

''Hugga Mugga'' was released on the Leader label in 1971. Roy Bailey and Rosselson recorded ''That's Not The Way It's Got To Be'' in 1975. Two other collaborations followed, ''Love, Loneliness and Laundry'' (1977) and ''If I Knew Who the Enemy Was'' (1979). Rosselson also scripted two shows for performance with Roy Bailey and Frankie Armstrong: the anti-nuclear ''No Cause for Alarm'' and ''Love Loneliness and Laundry'', about personal politics.

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

took "The World Turned Upside Down" into the charts in 1985. Dick Gaughan has also performed Rosselson's music ("The World Turned Upside Down" and " Stand Up for Judas").

The Dubliners The Dubliners () were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in pers ...

recorded '' Don't Get Married'' in 1987.

included a version of Rosselson's "Palaces of Gold", about the

Aberfan disaster The Aberfan disaster () was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. Heavy rai ...

, on his 1976 album '' Crown of Horn'' and on various compilations. He commented:

Big Red Songs

The original ''Big Red Songbook'', a collection of socialist songs, came out in 1977. Rosselson produced a new collection ''The New Big Red Songbook'' in 2003.

''Spycatcher''

In 1987, three

Law Lords Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

declared that Peter Wright's book ''

Spycatcher ''Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'' (1987) is a memoir written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and assistant director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. Wright drew on his experiences and research into ...

'' could not be published in Britain nor could any of it be quoted in the media. Rosselson set out to break the law. He spent two days reading it, then encapsulated it and quoted from it in a specially written song, ''Ballad of a Spycatcher'', which was published in the British weekly ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

''. A single of it, with backing from

and the

Oysterband Oysterband (originally The Oyster Band) is a British folk rock and folk punk band formed in Canterbury around 1976. History Early history The band formed in parallel to Fiddler's Dram, and under the name "Oyster Ceilidh Band" played purely as ...

, was released and started to get radio play, including by Simon Bates on the BBC pop music channel Radio 1. He appeared to expect a police raid or court order. In the event, nothing happened. In Rosselson's words: "So much for subversive intentions." It reached number 7 in the

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

indie singles charts.

Children's writer

Rosselson has published 17 children's books. His first book, ''Rosa's Singing Grandfather'', published by

Puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

, was shortlisted in 1991 for the Carnegie Medal. In his most recent novel, ''Home is a Place Called Nowhere'' (

OUP Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

), Rosselson writes about the experience of being a refugee.

Discography

The Galliards

*The Galliards (EP) (1960) *Scottish Choice (1961) *A-Rovin' (1961) *Galliards (1962)

The Three City Four

*The Three City Four (1965)

LK 4705 *Smoke and Dust (Where the Heart Should Have Been) (1967) CBS CBS 63039 *Smoke and Dust (CD) (Compilation of tracks from above two albums, released 2010) Fuse Records CFCD068

Solo recordings

*''Songs for City Squares'' (EP) (1962) *''Songs for Sceptical Circles'' (1966) *''A Laugh, a Song and a Hand Grenade'' (with Adrian Mitchell) (1968) *''Word Is Hugga Mugga Chugga Lugga Hum Bugga Boom Chit'' (1971) Trailer LER 3015 *''Palaces of Gold'' (1975) FUSE CF 249 *''That's Not the Way It's got to Be'' (with Roy Bailey) (1975) FUSE CF 251 ::Issued in the US as '' Songs of Life from a Dying British Empire'' (1981) *''Love Loneliness and Laundry'' (with Roy Bailey) (1977) FUSE CF 271 *''If I Knew Who the Enemy Was'' (with Roy Bailey) (1979) FUSE CF 284 *''For the Good of the Nation'' (Live, 1981) FUSE CF 381 *''Temporary Loss of Vision'' (1983) FUSE CF 384 *''Bringing the News from Nowhere'' (1986) FUSE CF 390 *"Ballad of a Spycatcher"/"Song of the Free Press" (single with Billy Bragg and The Oyster Band) (1987) *''I Didn't Mean It'' (with Frankie Armstrong, Roy Bailey,

, John Kirkpatrick, Rory McLeod, The Oyster Band and Fiz Shapur) (1988) Fuse CF 392 *''Wo Sind Die Elefanten? (Where Are The Elephants?)'' (1991) *''Intruders'' (1995) Fuse CFCD 005 *'' Harry's Gone Fishing'' (1999) Fuse CFCD 007 *''The Last Chance'' (EP: 4 song CD) (2002) Fuse CFCD 008 *A Proper State (2008) *''The Liberty Tree'' (with Robb Johnson) (2010) *''Where Are The Barricades?'' (2016)

Compilation albums

*Rosselsongs (1990) *Guess What They're Selling at the Happiness Counter (1992) *Perspectives (1997) *Turning Silence into Song (2004) *The Last Chance (extended edition of the 2002 EP of the same name) (2010) *The World Turned Upside Down – Rosselsongs 1960–2010 (2011)

For children

*Questions: Songs and Stories for Children (1994) (Cassette only. Reissued on CD, 2006) *Five Little Frogs (with

Sandra Kerr Sandra Kerr (born 14 February 1942, Plaistow, Newham, Essex) is an English folk singer. Kerr sings and plays Concertina#German concertinas, English concertina, guitar, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp. She was a member of The Critics Group fr ...

, Nancy Kerr and Kevin Graal) *Five Little Owls (with Sandra Kerr, Nancy Kerr and Kevin Graal) *The Greatest Drummer in the World

Others

* Songs for Swinging Landlords To (with Stan Kelly) (1961) * Vote For Us (with numerous other) (1964) * Nuclear Power No Thanks (with numerous others) (1981) * And They All Sang Rosselsongs (sung by 15 other performers) (2005) In 2009, "Greedy Landlord" from ''Songs for Swinging Landlords To'' was included in

Topic Records Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken ...

70 year anniversary boxed set '' Three Score and Ten'' as track twelve on the sixth CD.

Bibliography

Some children's books

*''Rosa's Singing Grandfather'', Puffin (1991). *''Rosa's Grandfather Sings Again'', Viking Children's Books (1991). *''Where's My Mum?'', Walker Books (1994). *''I Thought I Heard a Goldfish Singing'', Longman (1994). *''Emma's Talking Rabbit'', Collins (1996). *''Pumpkin's Downfall'', Collins (2000). *''Home is a Place Called Nowhere'', OUP (2002).

Songbooks

*Look Here (1968) *That's Not The Way It's Got To Be (1974) *For the Good of the Nation (1981) *Bringing the News from Nowhere (125 selected songs) (1993) *Turning Silence into Song (2003)

References

External links

Official Website
at Mainly Norfolk
Leon Rosselson Song Catalogue
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosselson, Leon 1934 births Living people English Jews English male songwriters English male singers English folk musicians English children's writers English children's musicians English satirists English socialists English tax resisters Music and politics Jewish British activists for Palestinian solidarity Jewish English activists English activists for Palestinian solidarity Jewish songwriters English people of Russian-Jewish descent People from Tufnell Park British satirical musicians British political music artists