Multi-award-winning singer-songwriter, folk ‘legend’ Richard Thompson OBE has written a song about Thameslink’s oldest employee, 85-year-old Elstree & Borehamwood station assistant Siggy Cragwell BEM. It is being aired on national radio this week.
The special track about Siggy, from Hampstead in London, is one of five commissioned by BBC Radio 2 to tell the stories of people whose lives have been influenced – or changed irrevocably – by trains.
Together they make up a week of folk music, entitled 21stCentury Folk which this year celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway – Railway 200.
- A video of Richard Thompson performing the song to Siggy for the first time can be heard here: Radio 2's 21st Century Folk 2025 - Canvas
- A two-hour documentary about all the songs and stories behind them can be found at: The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe - 21st Century Folk Celebrates Railway 200 - BBC Sounds
- Siggy will also appear on The Jeremy Vine Show, Radio 2, alongside Richard, this Wednesday (30 July 12noon – 2pm).
Siggy, who lives in Hampstead, London, came to Britain as part of the Windrush generation in 1962. He started work the very next day after his ship docked in Southampton and he has been delivering excellent customer service on the railway non-stop ever since. He tried to retire once but found life so boring he came back to work.
He’s received two lifetime achievement awards – one by popular vote in his local north London community – and a British Empire Medal (BEM) for his services to the railway. He previously played cricket for the England over-70s, and still takes wickets from players in their 20s.
Siggy said: “It’s such an honour to have this song written about me. I could never have dreamed when I came to this country that I’d still be working for the railway 63 years later and be receiving all these accolades.”
Singer-songwriter Richard Thompson co-founded Fairport Convention – who invented the distinctive sound of British Folk Rock – and has been named in Rolling Stone’s top 100 guitarists of all-time.
Like Siggy, Richard is cricket mad and the song he composed was recorded with Siggy’s cricketing colleagues on backing vocals at their club, Holtwhites-Trinibis, near Gordon Hill railway station (see editor’s notes below for the full lyrics).
Everyone's favourite: Siggy has been interviewed many times
Richard said: “It was fascinating to meet Siggy and learn of his life on the railway with Thameslink. Recording this song about him at his cricket club has been great fun.”
Mark Radcliffe, who hosts Radio 2’s Folk Show on Wednesdays 9-10pm, and is featuring all five songs in 21st Century Folk 2025 on Sunday 3 August (8-10pm), said: “Folk music tells the story of everyday life, with melodies and lyrics that are passed down through generations of families. It’s been amazing to see these listeners’ stories take on a life of their own with these special compositions, written and performed by some of the folk world’s most loved artists. I can’t wait to share them with the Radio 2 audience.”
