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Peter Yarrow of folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary dies aged 86

Known for his political songs as well as Puff the Magic Dragon, the group’s co-songwriter died of bladder cancer after being diagnosed four years ago

In August 1963, the progressive trio joined the March on Washington and sang a cover of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, which cemented the song’s legacy as an anthem of the civil rights movement. Yarrow’s songs were often political, telling the story of a war objector on hunger strike in The Great Mandala, from 1967, and suggesting to his son, on Day Is Done, that his generation could make a better world. In 1970, he was convicted and served three months in prison for “taking indecent liberties with a minor” after then 14-year-old Barbara Winter said that when she went to his hotel room in Washington, DC in search of an autograph, he answered the door naked and made her touch him until he ejaculated.

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