Peter Kennedy

Peter Douglas Kennedy (18 November 1922 – 10 June 2006) was an influential English folklorist and folk song collector throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Family and upbringing Peter Kennedy was born and raised in London, and educated at Leighton Park, a Quaker school in Reading. Peter's father, Douglas Kennedy (1893–1988), was EFDSS director after Cecil Sharp, and his mother Helen, was founding secretary of EFDSS and the sister of Cecil Sharp's amanuensis Maud Karpeles. His great-aunt was Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, folk song collector and author, and his great-grandfather, David Kennedy, was a famous Scottish singer. Career Kennedy helped to film the world's first international folk dance festival in London in 1935 at the age of 13, and joined the EFDSS staff in 1948 at the age of 26.