ENGLISH singer-songwriter Ralph McTell had no idea that his life was going to change when he was inspired by ‘revolution in the air’ in Paris.

The 68-year-old was busking and hitchhiking throughout Europe in the 1960s and fell in love with the city when it was on the cusp of change.

“My own route to music was the beatnik wanderlust experience of being on the road and being free,” said Ralph, who was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2002.

“I ended up in Paris after two or three years on the road. I loved Paris.

“There was revolution in the air. It was just before workers and students united to make changes and the war in Vietnam was ending.

“I was living pretty much close to the street. I’d see these people sleeping out over the hot air gratings of the metro and formulated the idea of writing a song called the Streets of Paris.”

But he then decided to bring the song closer to home.

Ralph, married to Nanna, a Norwegian, added: “I just fitted the characters that I’d seen around London into my tune.”

He told Weekend he was just 22 when he wrote the Ivor Novello award-winning Streets of London.

His signature song has since been covered by more than 200 artists and there are about 1,000 versions of it on YouTube while at its height it was selling 90,000 copies a day.

And despite performing Streets of London for more than four decades, Ralph has never grown tired of it.

“I like playing it because it’s a special moment in the show,” said the dad-of-four.

“I got a letter the other day from someone in America and another one from Brazil recently who had heard the song for the first time.

“That’s quite extraordinary to have made that sort of impact so early in my career. That fear of alienation and loneliness is in us all.

“It is a very strange and weird feeling. As I get older I pause and think what would my life have been like without that song? It’s gone around the world. It’s sung in churches, schools, folk clubs, karaoke bars and even used as a teaching aid in English lessons and for guitar.”

Ralph will be playing Streets of London among other folk songs spanning his 45-year career when he plays Warrington’s Pyramid centre on Saturday, October 12.

The singer, named after composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, added: “I’m very much looking forward to playing in Warrington.

“I haven’t played there for quite a while, but I remember doing a festival many years ago and meeting the mayor. It’s good to be back. People have been with me for a very long time and are still coming to gigs. We’re going grey together.

“But thankfully there are enough youngsters interested in my songs and they keep coming, so I keep working.”

Ralph is also still fondly known for presenting children’s show Alphabet Zoo for Granada TV with his own children Sam, Tom, Leah and Billy among the singers.

“It’s on its third generation of listeners now,” said Ralph, who has 11 grandchildren.

“My children sang on that record and now their children fall asleep to the songs at night so that’s a very special feeling.”

In fact, music seems to be a gift passed from one generation to the next in Ralph’s family.

And Ralph remembers his quirky introduction to the world of songwriting by his grandfather Albert Henry Moss.

He added: “I couldn’t get enough of music when I was a kid. My grandfather gave me a one string fiddle.

“He dug it out of the cellar and it was made from a cigar box and broom pole. I spent hours trying to play the thing!”

n Ralph McTell performs at the Pyramid Centre on October 12. Tickets are £19.50. Visit pyramidparrhall.com or call 442345.