Pete’s attorney, Paul Ross, immediately appealed his conviction, and during this time he was allowed to travel, with court permission, while Harold Leventhal continued to drum up support and funds through a bulletin. Pete did not slow down his political activism, and his Columbia Records contract indicated that his popularity had not waned; indeed, it continued to grow as the folk music revival heated up with the arrival of Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and so many others. In England Ewan MacColl chaired the “Pete Seeger Committee,” with Benjamin Britten, Doris Lessing, and Sean O’Casey listed as sponsors; there were also groups in Canada and Australia. When Pete toured England for five weeks with his family that fall he received rave reviews and large audiences, as noted in Eric Winter’s article in Melody Maker. Pete returned the compliments with his own article in Melody Maker praising various British performers and their appreciation of traditional songs. He was also struck by the proliferation of topical songs, and upon his return he would influence Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen, his colleagues in the Almanac Singers, to launch Broadside, their political songs publication.*