It could have been a truly awkward moment, but the encounter was surprisingly successful.

The meeting came about recently at London's Royal Festival Hall.
Billy had written new lyrics to Beethoven's Ode to Joy, which was being performed at the venue.

And he managed to overcome the apparent incongruity of the situation by remembering a famous moment from 41 years earlier.

He explained: "I wondered about this and decided as a West Ham United fan I would be shaking the Royal hand that once shook Bobby Moore's hand when the England and West Ham captain lifted the World Cup in 1966.

"For good measure, I took my mum along too."

Bragg is well-known for his musical collaborations – most successfully, at least in commercial terms, he linked up with US band Wilco to record two albums of unrecorded Woody Guthrie songs.

He's not afraid to experiment in concert too, a recent example being a medley of songs by two unlikely musical bedfellows – The Carpenters and Bob Dylan.

His latest World Music project, The Imagined Village, perform at The Sage Gateshead, on Monday.

The project features Eliza and Martin Carthy, Chris Wood and Simon Emmerson among others, and is partly an attempt to explore England's musical roots and re-invent the English folk tradition.

Billy said: "I see myself as being an urban folk singer. Some people think of folk music as a caricature and dismiss it as 'shepherds' music,' but I've loved the experience of working with Martin Carthy in particular, especially as (The Smiths') Johnny Marr once told me that Martin was the guitarist he most copied when he was learning his craft."

Essex lad Billy, who turns 50 next month, gained notoriety in the punk and post-punk eras.

In 1977, he formed a punk rock band called Riff Raff and toured London's pubs and clubs.

And he remembered with affection his first visits to North East England.

He said: "I think it was the early 1980s and I was touring as a 'one-man Clash'.

"I remember playing The Bunker in Sunderland and doing benefits for the striking miners in 1984.

"I played those gigs with the likes of Jock Purdon, Roy Bailey and others.

"I could see that the folk music they were putting across had aspects of protest.

"In a way, the miners' strike galvanised many singers and bands and encouraged myself and people like Paul Weller to take a more political stance in conjunction with magazines like the New Musical Express."

Although it has been said that Internet sites such as Myspace have helped 'democratise' music, Billy comments that it's harder now for emerging artists to get mainstream exposure with political material.

"You're not going to see the new Bob Dylan on The X Factor, let's face it," he said.

His political interests are not just musical, and he's been happy to get his hands dirty on the campaign trail.

During the 2001 General Election, he attempted to combat voter apathy by promoting tactical voting in an attempt to unseat Tory candidates in Dorset.

His political passions come to the fore on the debut Imagined Village album, on which he's recorded an updated version of the old folk song, The Hard Times Of Old England.

On the track he stands up for farmers who he believes are struggling because of the ever-growing power of the large supermarket chains.

But he admits his political message didn't win the approval of all his fellow band members.

He explained: "Some of the other artists weren't so keen, but then they said: 'well, that's Billy for you – just let him get on with it!"

While in rehearsals with the new project he stumbled across a new, uniquely English stage "uniform".

He said: "Seeing the other artists in their saris and turbans gave me the idea of developing a traditional costume for the English urban folkie.

"I ordered a toned-down version of the Pearly Kings and Queens outfits. I promise to unveil it at Gateshead on Monday."

* Tickets for Monday's show, priced £7 and £19.50, are available from the Sage Gateshead box office on 443 4661.