I absolutely need to know the following.

The late great comedian Dave Allen, apart from his comedy shows, did a short series about offbeat customs and traditions in England.

It had a theme tune by a folk group that might have been Steeleye Span but there again might not, singing a song that began "This old England's a funny place" and probably included a phrase a bit like "people like you, people like me".

I can not find any single solitary trace of it on the interwebs. The nearest I can find is "Dave Allen in Search of the English Eccentric", but that appears to refer to only one show, not a series, apart from which I'm sure the title wasn't that.

Can anyone clue me in? It's driving me friggin' crackers. Did they destroy the tapes like they did with Dr Who? Was it a conspiracy designed to drive me mad?
A free pint in an impossible-to-find Spanish bar awaits the giver of the first proper answer.

I wasnt around then. Too young.

eccentrics at play maybe from mid 70s

fairport convention for the band ??

My arse, you were modelling stair lifts in the Peoples Friend with Thora Hird.

Liar. I have never met thora hird.

Dave Allen did 2 programmes both in 1974, 'Dave Allen in Search of the Great English Eccentric', which can be found in full on YouTube, and 'Eccentrics At Play'. No theme music as such on the 1st programme so it could be the 2nd one with the folky intro but can't find anything more about that as yet.

Years ago while walking in the Yorkshire dales in the winter, I passed a dairy farm and noticed all the cows were frozen, I shouted to the farmer " alright mate, what`s up with the cows?", he said they had been left out overnight and the frost had made them go frozen!
I asked if he was going to get them slaughtered and he said" No my friend, there is a lady on the way to defrost them", " defrost them, who the hell can do that"?
" Thora Hird" he replied!

Loved Dave Allen, especially the monologues, sat on a bar stool with his fags and booze and that great voice drawing you in.

Anyhow, don't think it can be one of the better known folk bands unless, after all this time, you are mis-remembering the lyrics.

Definitely not Fairport. Sounds cheesy enough to be The Strawbs, if you can bear to wade through their back catalogue on YouTube.

Did any of the cows provide you with a nice glass of warm milk once they were defrosted?

I wasn`t really there you know!

Thanks to your combined suggestions I'm now pretty sure it was called Dave Allen and Friends. It certainly meets the full season criterion.
It's a total white out for the group though. I'm fairly certain it was a female singer. It definitey began "This Old England's a Funny Place". The “People like you" bit is a lot less vague. Another phrase that comes to mind is "In a world that's full of changes", which I think was the start of the first verse.
Unhappily the show itself shows every sign of having been wiped.

Edit: That might have been "The world is full of people, not/just like you and me"

The folkies' bible, mudcat.org, tells me the song was by Frogmorton. They only made one album called 'At Last', which features these tracks: Aurora, Judas and Mary, McGuire's Favourite, The Crowd, Shipwreck, Grace Darling, Uncilvilized Man, White Swans, Wedding Day, Cedar Tree,
Grimaldo, The Horseman's Word, and Mr Darwin, but none of those titles sounds promising as the Dave Allen song. They re-formed around 2009 and there are a few videos on Youtube, but they don't help.

That's a terrible monkey butt esque joke


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Thank you indeed Mr Elmo. I guess my chances of hearing it again are near-zero unless I contact the Froggies personally. (Although it could be that the one person who mentions it on that site has a memory as vacant as mine.)

I have a Frogmorton 45 on Philips Label from 1976. Its two tracks from the album Elmo has posted about. Will have a listen when I can dig it out.

So....you don't deny the stairlift modelling contract in the Peoples Fiend then ?

Jesus that's a grim listen, even for people like me who like folk music. The cod reggae number is enough to make anyone thankful for a world of political correctness!

Great site for trawling through obscure and half-forgotten albums though, complete with the cover art.

The 'Peoples Fiend' would be another good alternative username for the Colonel.