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Mike Garry is an acclaimed Mancunian poet who has performed poetry since 1994, worked in hundreds of schools and held residencies in prisons, hospitals and art galleries.
His work celebrates the beautiful ugliness of the city. His heroes are the underdogs and lost souls who wander the streets searching for answers. Mikes' poetry has been published widely and his live performances are explosive and unmissable.
Mike Garry has been published in a range of newspapers and magazines including Pulp Magazine, City Life, The Big Issue and Arvon Anthologies. As well as his work in education and the community, he has performed poetry on BBC Radio 4, Granada Television and on many local radio stations. A prolific writer, he has published three collections of his own poetry and been the 'Writer in Residence' for magazines, prisons and local authorities.
His poem Manchester Haiku was shortlisted for the Poem For Manchester Competition, which was judged by Andrew Motion. Manchetser Haiku is displayed around Manchester City Centre where it is enjoyed by thousands of Mancunians and visitors to the city every day.
Mike has been officially recognised by The National Literacy Trust as being a motivating and positive role model to the young people he works with and is one of the Trusts Reading Champions, nominated because of his passion for reading and his success in encouraging young people, particularly boys, to read fiction and poetry.
Mike closed the Tony Wilson Experience in 2008 with his tribute to Wilson, Saint Anthony.
Below: Mike Garry - Saint Anthony, A Tribute to Anthony Wilson
Roger McGough CBE was born in Litherland, part of north Liverpool, a city with which he is firmly associated in most people's minds. He was educated at the University of Hull at a time when the chief librarian was Philip Larkin. Returning to Merseyside in the early 1960s he met Mike McGear and John Gorman, both multi-talented entertainers. Together they formed The Scaffold, a comedy group, hitting number one in the British charts in 1968 with Lily the Pink. McGough co-wrote many of their songs. He continues to perform widely.
McGough was responsible for much of the humorous dialogue in The Beatles' animated movie Yellow Submarine, although he did not receive an on-screen credit for it. Along with Adrian Henri and Brian Patten, with whom he published two best-selling volumes of verse, McGough did win fame of a slightly more serious nature as one of the "Mersey Poets" of the 1960s and 70s.
In 1978 McGough appeared in All You Need Is Cash, a mockumentary detailing the career of a Beatles-like group called The Rutles. Roger now presents the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry Please and records voice-overs for commercials. He was awarded the CBE in June 2004.
Below: Poet Roger McGough reads his poem about Sir Paul McCartney's trousers, To Macca's Trousers, at National Museums Liverpool. Filmed and edited by Jo Kelly
Punk poet John Cooper Clarke first began performing his work backed by a local folk group called the Ferrets, but in 1977 signed to the Rabid Records label to release the single "Psycle Sluts" produced by Martin Hannett.
With his rapid-fire delivery and biting social commentary, Clarke quickly emerged as the poet laureate of the punk movement, reading his work as an opening act for groups including the Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks. An LP, Disguise in Love followed on Epic in 1978.
After supporting Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Clarke scored a Top 40 hit with the single "Gimmix; " a live disc, Walking Back to Happiness, appeared in 1979, and a year later he released a second studio effort, Snap, Crackle and Bop. While hugely popular as a stage performer, his records sold poorly, and 1982's Zip Style Method was his final release for Epic; He still managed to maintain his popularity as a live act but appeared less and less frequently in the years to follow, spending the better part of the 1980s battling an addiction to heroin. He also spent several years romantically involved with former Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico.
By the following decade Clarke cleaned up his act, returning to the stage and is still performing regularly all over the UK.
Below: John Cooper Clarke performs Beezley Street on the Old Grey Whistle Test 1980
Learn more about the art of Performance Poetry here:
Tags: mike garry tony wilson poetry roger mcgough john cooper clarke
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