Man of the People: Paul Graney's Story

Available for over a year

Paul Graney was, in his own words, "an ordinary bloke" from the North West. Yet he left as his legacy, an extraordinary collection of audio recordings that reflected the changing lives of ordinary people in the first half of the 20th century. He spent months living rough during the Depression and helped to organise the Manchester contingent of the Jarrow March. He fought against Sir Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts, and saw Adolf Hitler rousing his supporters in Berlin. Later, he became a collector of folk music from across the world, saving hundreds of traditional songs from fading out of memory. Jeffrey Richards tells his story. Producer: Libby cross First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2006.