Steve Knightley on the Exe Trail

Steve Knightley of Show of Hands has been described as “a gravel voiced spokesman for the rural poor”. Many of the songs he writes are inspired by the working people he meets in and around his home town of Topsham in Devon. Steve takes Matthew on a walk from Exmouth - scene of some of his earliest gigs as a teenage musician - along the Exe trail to Topsham. In Exmouth docks Steve performs “The Dive” which tells the true story of a father and son diving drama, as the real life son of the story looks on. On a farm near Topsham Steve sings “Country Life” his angry anthem about the destruction of the countryside by second home owners and agri-barons.