while playing in the clubs he was spotted by a bbc television producer who invited him to write and present a guitar tuition series for the newly created bbc tv channel bbc2. this became "hold down a chord", a ten-part course for beginners, first broadcast in 1965, with accompanying instructional book and lp. it was shown in many countries and taught viewers the rudiments of fingerstyle guitar as played by guitarists such as mississippi john hurt, big bill broonzy and reverend gary davis. this was a timely series, because of the ongoing british folk revival and the popularity of singer-songwriters and guitarists like bob dylan. amongst the many inspired by pearse was a young martin carthy who went on to become a major figure in the uk folk scene.