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Mark Ramsden

British writer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 2, 2023
Entity authorityQ6769385
Source-derived summary

Mark Ramsden (born 13 July 1956, Liverpool, England) is a British writer, composer, producer and musician. He studied at Leeds Music College before becoming a professional saxophonist and flautist. Since finishing his education he has been active in rock, but he is more famous for jazz music, both as a performer and composer.

Career

Much of the 1980s and 1990s saw him playing with artists such as Jimmy Witherspoon, Roy Harper and Bert Jansch as well as partnering jazz musicians such as Steve Lodder, Dominic Ashworth and Jim Mullen. He has also toured with Dudu Pukwana, Loose Tubes, the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and the Grand Union Orchestra, living in Germany and Hong Kong as well as the UK.

After meeting Tom Robinson at the Edinburgh Festival in 1982 he joined the TRB, touring extensively with the band, he appeared on the albums Hope and Glory (1984), Still Loving You (1986) and Love Over Rage (1994). He part composed Tom Robinson's top ten hit "War Baby" (1983), writing and playing the distinctive tenor and soprano saxophone parts.

In 1995 he composed and recorded the pipe organ and saxophone album Above The Clouds with Steve Lodder (re-released Naxos 1999) in a North London Church. His other critically acclaimed work includes Chilled with Jim Mullen and Andy Hamill and Tribute to Paul Desmond with Dave Cliff.

In addition to his musical career, he has written reviews, profiles and technical pieces for Musician magazine, Making Music, Crime Time, and life style pieces for Dempster's magazine where he interviewed Marianne Faithfull. He has also regularly published fiction and articles for titles such as Skin Two, Latex Extra, Desire and The Erotic Review.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Mark Ramsden” is british writer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Mark, Ramsden and British, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1956, 1982, 1984, 1986—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1956-07-13. For this dossier, Mark, Ramsden and British is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “british writer” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q6769385. VIAF identifies the subject as 51182567. The Library of Congress control number is nb98070012. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1956, 1982, 1984 and 1986.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Mark Ramsden”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Mark Ramsden primary sources, Mark Ramsden archive and Mark research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mark Ramsden”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Mark Ramsden” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.