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Poetry, bikes, dementia...
Poetry, bikes, dementia...
Recorded on the 90th anniversary of A E Housman’s death this Shropshire Lad and my co-presenter, the Shropshire lass Pele Cox, discuss the life and works of the poet who died on April 30 2026. We agree that his poetry is every bit as relevant…
A review into the death of my elderly mother (Sheila Hartman), who regular readers will remember was brutally beaten by another resident in her Bedfordshire care home, has concluded that the attack might have been prevented if only her bedroom door had been closed at…
I believed you when You said their legs were made from Twiglets. I wish I still did. We were one blackbird with two wings back then. But I’ve been flying around in circles ever since You flew the nest Leaving your binoculars to me. I…
With Margot Robbie cast as Cathy in the latest iteration of Wuthering Heights, my co-host, Pele Cox, argues that without poetry Emily Brontë’s book wouldn’t have been written in the first place. So no roles for Robbie and her Heathcliff, Jacob Elordi. No Kate Bush…
A poem for Valentine’s Day I say: goodnight I love you. You say: I love you more See you in the morning. But there will be a time There will be a time When the night is not good And I will not see you…
Who first wrote roses are red, violets are blue, honey is sweet and so are you? Who were the lines written for? And when? Plus is poetry the language of love? Just some of the questions Pele Cox and I seek answers to in this special lovers’…
What is poetic voice? Is it synonymous with style? Or something else? Perhaps the poet’s “take” on the world? Pele Cox and Rich Uridge seek answers from a range of greats including Emily Dickinson, Edna St Vincent Millay and Vernon Watkins who, with a drunken Dylan Thomas,…
Pele Cox and I ask: what is the purpose of poetry? With the help of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Thomas Wyatt, we conclude that, in part, poetry’s job is to move readers to virtuous action or “well doing and not well…
A walking stick, a deadly arc Your face unstitched and come apart. The dying light’s the deepest dark It casts a shadow, leaves a mark. A finger painting just in red A rainbow arched beside your bed. No treasured end, a chest of blood All…
The poet Pele Cox and I discuss the differences between poetry (her world) and journalism (mine). With the help of Ted Hughes and his Birthday Letters we talk about how poetry can tackle shocking subject matter in a way that prose alone cannot. I talk…
Delighted to announce that I’m co-hosting a series of talks on poetry with the poet Pele Cox. I’ll make sure I post each episode here as we record it. Or you can check out the programme website or sign up through your usual podcast provider.…
Like many journalists of my generation I’ve had a fascination with the work of the press photographer Don McCullin for my whole career. Each of his images manages to tell a story that us writers would struggle to convey in a thousand words. So I…