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Hi there

Fancy some distraction from the nation's self-defenestration?
You do? Well, here's news of my autumn exploits.

History has always been shaped by the crossing of oceans by desperate people.

Sadly as topical as ever, Human Cargo returns to Suffolk this week. I'm back at the wonderful Guildhall in Lavenham for an atmospheric solo show - both Friday 13 and Saturday 14 September - making the most of the medieval acoustic. Still some tickets left. Do spread the word to East Anglian pals.

Fancy a dose of the dulcets? You can hear me talking about the show on the BBC here (starts 31.09). I also chat about The Transports, The Warm and Toasty Club and my book The Trebor Story.

So three cheers for the Blackshirts, hear our loud hurrahs!
From the House of Lords to Fleet Street there'll be champagne and cigars!
Three cheers for the Blackshirts, as the troops go marching past.
We're holding hands with Hitler, we're the British ruling class.

As yet another Etonian PM treats Britain like a plaything, it's timely to revisit Robb Johnson's majestic song cycle Ordinary Giants. We play two rare London dates on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 October at Chats Palace in Hackney.

One of the songs I get to sing (with a full band!) is Three Cheers for the Blackshirts about the Daily Mail's support for Germany during the 1930s. Plus there's the joy of re-uniting with Phil 'Swill' Odgers from The Men They Couldn't Hang to sing duets as Robb's Dad and Uncle.

I must go down to the seas again
For the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call
That cannot be denied.

It was great to bring Living By The Sea back to Sidmouth, this time on the main Ham stage, where we pulled in a huge lunchtime crowd. (I was excited to have a dressing room next to Richard Thompson, who was playing the stage that evening). Once again it meant working with musical director Paul Sartin, Benji Kirkpatrick and Saul Rose from Faustus, and a chorus drawn from the Andover Museum Loftsingers and the Cecil Sharp House choir. Here are the Faustus lads in full swing:

Two weeks later, we took the show to Whitby Folkweek, where we got another fine reception in the Spa Pavilion Theatre. My dad grew up a mile from the theatre, in Sandsend, so I was able to thread some personal history through the local Whitby stories. And I got to crack what I assumed was a well-worn joke - how Whitby was once invaded by Vikings, but now by Goths. (I know. But it got a laugh.)

Our chorus did a fantastic job, not just learning and singing the songs, but also performing within a complex structure of underscores and fades. We aimed to create the feel of a radio show like the Radio Ballads, with music and words constantly woven together. The mood varied too. There was a ghost story, tales of drownings and disaster, some Ivor Cutler (!) and even a touch of slow shoe shuffle from yours truly while leading an acapella Oh I do like to be beside the seaside. (I blame the after effects of morphine from an unexpected trip to Exeter General Hospital earlier in the week).

We hope to arrange more dates for Living by the Sea next year.

Step carefully in the forest

Now that's a bit of good advice - and it's the title of a new show Olga & I are creating for the January launch of Kings Place's 2020 season Nature Unwrapped.

For this, we're deep in Greek myth. Particularly the story of Diana and Actaeon, which ain't a pretty tale and has - I reckon - something to say about the way men and women deal with each other. But what does it say? That's what we're working out by means of story and music, especially Ravel.

Actaeon instantly realises two things.
This is the most exciting sight he has ever beheld.
And second, he should not have seen it.
What he doesn't know, yet, is that it will kill him.

You can already get tickets for the January show (and check out the other treats in the Kings Place season). Meantime, if you'd like a dose of Olga and Matthew, we present our children's concert Peter & the Wolf and other stories at London's St Martin-in-the-Fields on 30 November.

And there's more...

It was juvenile. It was silly. And it was packed out. The Bashful Boys made their debut at Sidmouth Folk Festival, with Dan Quinn and I delivering a banquet of bad jokes and questionable taste. Dan's Billy Bennett monologues were a high point. And the low point? Probably 'Our next artiste does impressions of farmyard animals. Not the sounds. The smells.' Yes, it was that kind of show.

Plus:

It's ten years since I produced Tales from the Angler's Retreat - fishing stories from the Hebridean island of South Uist - and Amazon are offering it at a special discount. The perfect gift for anyone interested in tall tales and a guide to the fishiest lochs on Uist and Benbecula.
Talking of tall tales, you can't beat Seventy Years a Showman. As jawdropping as ever.

And that's it, for now. Let's all try and survive the autumn.
Best wishes, Matthew

I leave you with a mini Transports reunion at Sidmouth - with Paul Sartin, Benji Kirkpatrick and Rachael McShane.

Within the same 24 hours, within Sidmouth, we might also have gathered Saul Rose, all three Young'uns, Nancy Kerr, Andy Bell and Emma Thompson. A glorious chance concatenation of a widely dispersed Transports team. (Almost a full house, minus only Greg Russell). But photographic evidence proved not possible.