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Front Row

Roger McGough and Brian Patten on 50 years of The Mersey Sound, Lizzie Nunnery, Andrew McMillan

Duration: 30 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW

Available for over a year

Roger McGough and Brian Patten discuss the making of The Mersey Sound - the ground-breaking collection of poetry they created with the late Adrian Henri. Fifty years after the collection was published, and described by one critic as "a flash in the pan from a three-headed pantomime horse", they talk about the inspiration and the impact of The Mersey Sound.

The painter, poet, musician, and teacher, Adrian Henri, described by John Peel as "one of the great non-singers of our time", and the third member of The Mersey Sound poets, is the subject of Tonight at Noon - a new season of exhibitions and events in Liverpool. His literary and artistic executor, and curator of the season, Catherine Marcangeli, discusses Henri's total art vision.

Playwright and singer-songwriter Lizzie Nunnery performs an extract from her new work, Horny Handed Tons of Soil, which was inspired by both The Mersey Sound and Adrian Henri.

Bryan Biggs, artistic director of Bluecoat's 300th anniversary programme, discusses the history of one of the UK's oldest arts centres and its role in supporting generations of contemporary artists such as Jeremy Deller, Yoko Ono and John Akomfrah.

Prize-winning poet Andrew McMillan premieres his new poem in response to The Mersey Sound.

Presenter : John Wilson
Producer : Ekene Akalawu. Show less

Contributors

Presenter:
John Wilson
Interviewed Guest:
Roger McGough
Interviewed Guest:
Brian Patten
Interviewed Guest:
Catherine Marcangeli
Interviewed Guest:
Lizzie Nunnery
Interviewed Guest:
Bryan Biggs
Interviewed Guest:
Andrew McMillan
Producer:
Ekene Akalawu

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