John Bolitho (1930 – 2005) was fond of describing himself as an “itinerant singer”, a description which belied a professional career that included work with the Billy Cotton Band show and two royal command performances. He was a fluent Cornish speaker and bard of the Cornish Gorseth taking the name “Jowan and Cleth”, “John of the North”. He took the Cornish language in song to the major Celtic festivals and was an ardent supporter of Cornwall’s own Celtic Festival, Lowender Peran. He was Grand Bard of Gorsedh Kernow 2000- 2003.

The Bolitho Archive

“Bolitho”, as he was affectionately known, was a familiar voice in Cornish pub singing tradition from Bude to the Scillies in a very literal sense. He regularly sang with the Bude Lifeboat singers and his annual pilgrimage to the gig rowing championships held on the Scilly Isles each May became a highlight of the singers’ session calendar. Between 1985 and 1992 he made a series of live recordings which captured the singing sessions of North Cornwall including: the London Inn at Padstow where he was joined by Charlie Pitman and Johnny Morrisey; The Cobwebs in Boscastle; and the Upper Deck in Rock where he was joined by Johnny Mert and the Bude Lifeboat singers. These recordings together with 5 songs recorded by John at St Clements Church in Withiel in August 2005 form the Bolitho Archive which is kept with the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies Folk Song Recorders archive at Kresen Kernow in Redruth.

Below is a selection of 15 songs from the Bolitho Archive plus the five songs he recorded in Withiel:

1. Spanish Ladies
2. Calm is the sea
3. The Lower Lights
4. The Larks They Sang Melodious
5. White Rose / Rosen Wyn
6. Cadgwith Anthem
7. Maggie May (Cobwebs)
8. Down Mexico Way (London Inn )
9. I’m a Man (London Inn)
10. Spinning Wheel (London Inn)
11. Danny Boy (The Upper Deck)
12. Horseshoe on the wall (Cobwebs)
13. I Once loved a lass (London Inn)
14. Old Armchair (Cobwebs)
15. The Bantam Cock (Lowender Peran)

Recorded at St Clements Church Withiel 2005

1. Maggie May (Cornish)
2. Nancy
3. Tek o an Blejenn
4. Bro Goth Agan Tasow
5. The Anchor’s Away

 

John Bolitho at the Lowender Peran Festival

John was a regular singer, compere at Lowender Peran from the festival’s early days until his death in 2005. Here is a clip of him singing Kenneth Pelmear’s Lowender Peran Round at the festival in 1991. Kenneth Pelmear was a popular composer, a friend of John Bolitho and wrote the round especially for the 1991 festival.