Formed in London in 1969, Magna Carta went on to become one of the UK’s best-loved progressive folk bands. They could even count David Bowie among their fans. Following the release of their multidisc career retrospective, When All Is Said And Done, founder member and singer-songwriter Chris Simpson discusses their legacy, working with Davey Johnstone, and that time he got into trouble with The Beach Boys’ security team…

Words: James McNair

Making history: Magna Carta onstage at Aldershot Civic Hall, 1973. L-R: Chris Simpson, Glen Stuart, Stan Gordon.

Image: Michael Putland/Getty Images

Where improbable tales from rock’s annals are concerned, Magna Carta’s story fits the bill. They had encounters with ghosts, David Bowie and human entrails; and gigs in the Gaza Strip, Kathmandu and even the Amazon Rainforest. “I look back and think: how did it all happen?” says the group’s amiable linchpin Chris Simpson. “It does seem like a bit of a dream.”

Eighty-one in July, Simpson is chatting to Prog from his home in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Upbeat despite a nasty cough and recent bouts with Covid and pneumonia, he reports, “It’s a lovely snowy morning, and adds that he’s “currently lying down”. Mention Magna Carta’s 1970 prog-folk masterpiece Seasons, or even 1973’s Lord Of The Ages – “One of the greatest albums of its kind ever made,” Rick Wakeman has averred – and Simpson’s natural ebullience grows. Magna Carta remain a cult band, and having led them for more than five decades he seems delighted that someone still cares.

“After we’d finished, David [Bowie] said, ‘That was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.’”

With the Australian-born Lyell Tranter on second guitar and former Z Cars actor Glen Stuart on co-vocals, Simpson formed Magna Carta in Hampstead, north London in April 1969. His studies at King’s College had qualified him to be an Anglican priest, but taken with The Lovin’ Spoonful, Chuck Berry and folk luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Simpson effectively ‘defrocked’ himself and pursued music instead.