Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has revealed he will be working harder than ever at this year’s festival – as he announced his daughter Emily has given birth to a baby boy.

The 75-year-old’s role in the event has lessened in recent years with Emily taking the lead, but this year he will be a big driving force at the event.

At a rare public appearance at the Meltdown Festival in London, curated by Ray Davies from The Kinks, Mr Eavis confirmed Emily will have less of a role this year

He said: “Emily had her first little baby son on Saturday and she is so high on it.

“She’s been my baby because she’s the youngest, and now she has her own baby, it is so fantastic. She is really on the ball and really bright and loves doing it, but for now she has a big moment in her life and I don’t think she will be involved much next week.

“Emily is so thrilled with little George, so I want her to concentrate on that. But she still phones me and tells me off. I think in five years’ time I think she will have a lot to do with it.”

He revealed she called him on the train up to London telling him not to be indiscreet – and preferably just talk about the weather.

Emily specifically warned him not to say anything controversial “like the Wombles thing” – referring to the headlines generated when he criticised the booking of the 1970s novelty group.

But he could not help returning to it, fuming: “I was really annoyed. He (the Avalon stage booker) thinks there is something for everybody, but I don’t agree. I get loads of pressure from bands who want to play, quite well-known bands, and then he puts on the Wombles. I can’t believe it.”

One audience member said he started a Facebook group called ‘I would rather have the Wombles than Coldplay’, but Mr Eavis was not persuaded.

“We have the best bands, I don’t see why we have to drop the Wombles into the equation, it isn’t suitable for our show. We did The Smiths in 1984, David Bowie in 1971, and the Wombles...Come on!”

He is happier about the appearance of another children’s TV favourite, Rastamouse: “He’s playing in the kids’ area, he wanted to come. That will be a huge success – my little grandchildren are so excited about it.”

Whether the crimefighting rodent and his reggae band the Easy Crew make it into the festival’s founder’s best-ever performances remains to be seen.

Virtually every major rock act has played Worthy Farm, apart from the Rolling Stones, and Mr Eavis is confident of booking them one day.

But few would guess his personal favourite was the late John Martyn, the singer-songwriter who played in 1979.

“He was so good, it brought tears to my eyes. The world would not think that was the major thing at the festival, but to me it was. Then there were The Smiths, Oasis and Radiohead. And T-Rex, who replaced The Kinks at the first festival, was one of the best ever.”

Asked about acts he missed out on, Mr Eavis said one of his biggest regrets was he had been talking to Beatle George Harrison about playing just before he died.

And San Francisco hippy band the Grateful Dead agreed to perform, even visiting the farm to do some dowsing to check they were spiritually compatible, but then leader Jerry Garcia died. The two acts he would like to see reform to play were the Stone Roses and Pink Floyd, although he did not think either would happen.

In a wide-ranging discussion, he said the best thing ever left behind on the site after a festival was a Ferguson tractor. and spoke of his pride at having officially the highest-yielding herd of cows at Somerset.

He said he had been chasing U2 for 32 years, and they were spending a lot of their own money on a spectacular show.

His top tip for festival-goers is the underground piano bar currently being built in a secret location, and he hopes Lily Allen, who spends her honeymoon at the festival, may sing a few songs, but “she probably won’t as she is pregnant as well”.