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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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D'ye ken John Peel?
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The most popular of hunting songs, celebrating the most enthusiastic of huntsmen. John Peel (1776–1854) was a Cumberland farmer who maintained his own pack of hounds for more than 50 years. The lyric, by Peel's friend John Graves (1795–1886), is said to have been written impromptu when the two men were in a pub and someone enquired as to the correct words of this old Cumberland folk tune. If so the final verse, lamenting Peel's death, is clearly a later addition.
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