“Following this ‘Icons of the Hall’ screening, Julie came along to speak and also played a range of songs, including Bert Jansch’s Needle of Death from the 60s, which is about opioid death, and a song she’d written called Corbynista, because she was a fan of Jeremy Corbyn. Julie was someone who very much framed herself as a folk singer, an activist, and a humanitarian; there was a real sense of her knowing that her voice had changed and an unabashed embracing of emotion. She was also quite self-deprecating and joked that there was no way she could fill the Royal Albert Hall now, unless she forced people in with a gun! She was wonderful and definitely played with the audience, who were either rediscovering her having remembered her TV shows, or younger people who had perhaps come to see some of the Led Zeppelin footage and were discovering her for the first time.”

“There was also a real awareness of the fact that, at one point in time, she’d been extremely high profile. Julie had hosted the first colour TV series on the BBC, which was sold and shown all over the world, where she was better known than some of her guests, including Leonard Cohen, who made his UK television debut on Once More with Felix. Then she’d deliberately taken herself out of the fame game and it had never returned, whether she’d wanted it to or not. But she had carried on and really invested in the idea of herself as a troubadour; someone who was now performing, by and large, in much smaller folk clubs, passing on stories, news and ways of connecting between human beings. She very much felt that there were still causes to fight for, and that it was important to be really angry. Following the Royal Albert Hall event, there was a sense of renewed interest in her practice and in the last years before she passed away, she was being invited to much bigger events to perform.”

For Alissa, the opportunity to record a series of intimate video interviews with Julie, as well as capture several of her concerts for an as-yet unreleased documentary, brought her connection with the singer full circle: “I grew up listening to Julie Felix’s music and, as someone who headed off into drama, the pieces I liked best were her really dramatic versions of Masters of War and The Spring Hill Disaster. To interview Julie and spend time with her in my academic career was an absolute pleasure; she was quite playful and very dedicated to her yoga practice and used to hang upside down for a period of time every day to stretch her back. Her shtick on stage was to always end with a high kick, demonstrating her vigour and her delight of being on stage, which she continued to do up until just before she became seriously ill.”

“What was interesting, and what we saw repeatedly when she was playing and working with an audience, was a process of winning people over. Not long before her death, Julie was invited to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival. At the beginning, people were chatting amongst themselves in this smallish marquee, which was absolutely jam-packed. Then there was a process of seeing the tide turn, partly because of her naturalness and warmth, but also her engagement and really caring about the audience. Her capacity to tell stories in the way she sang was present; she talked about ‘communing’ with the audience and being carried by the song.”

Dr. Clarke is hopeful that the return of this Once More with Felix footage to the BBC Archives will help give Julie more recognition for her achievements as a leading light. “Julie is one of several women whose wider legacies and impact should be acknowledged. Not only do I think it is important to acknowledge her as a fine musician and song writer, but also someone who had this warm, generous and connective presence in terms of how she managed her TV shows. Julie was operating in a male industry but found her way through it and forged her own pathway, which feels like a strong story of inspiration that other people can connect with. She also worked out how she wanted to be represented in the context of the BBC, whilst recognising that there might be certain things that she had to do to appease their structures.”