smallpipes. He also wrote many fine tunes for the instrument. A. D. Schofield and Julia Say produced a biography and tune book, The Border Minstrel, published by the Northumbrian Pipers' Society in 1997. This includes all his known compositions. These include the slow airs The Gypsy's Lullaby and Border Spirit, marches in 6/8 and 4/4 such as Bonny Woodside and The Old Drove Road, many hornpipes, including The Carrick Hornpipe and The Biddlestone Hornpipe, jigs such as Coffee Bridge and reels such as Cote Walls and Anne of Hindhope. One of his most spectacular pieces is Bill Charlton's Fancy, a 6/8 variation set. His version of the traditional tune, The Wild Hills of Wannies with his own variations, was entirely distinctive, and a good example of his Highland-influenced style. During the 1950s Forster Charlton recorded his playing on many occasions; some of these can be heard on Radio FARNE. In 1958 Royce Wilson, an American working in Newcastle upon Tyne, acquired a tape recorder and made some recordings of him. Other recordings were made by the BBC and by the School of Scottish Studies. An album of selected recordings made by Forster Charlton was issued as Billy Pigg, the Border Minstrel on the Leader label in 1971, and re-released on CD in 2004. Through these recordings of Pigg's own compositions and his repertoire of traditional tunes, Pigg became influential throughout the world of bagpiping. Most players of the instrument will have several of Pigg's compositions in their repertoire. Recently the Northumbrian Pipers' Society issued an expanded second edition of his music, the two volumes respectively covering his own compositions and his distinctive versions of other tunes. They also include a description of his playing style as well as transcriptions, some in great detail, of most of the surviving recordings. Playing style The distinguishing characteristic of Pigg's playing style is the use of complex open-fingered ornaments, in imitation of Irish and Highland piping. His father was a Highland piper, while Billy himself had great interest in Irish music. By contrast, most respected pipers before him would have stuck with an almost wholly staccato style. Tom Clough considered that any departure from this, a style where the chanter was closed and silent between any two notes, would be "a grievous error in smallpipe playing". It is possible to compare his style with that of Tom Clough. The popular variation set for Northumbrian