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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Poetry Extra

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly opportunity for listeners to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

A brand new poetry slot on Radio 4 Extra gives listeners a weekly opportunity to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

Poetry Extra: Nobody Told Me to Oil My Boots

05/02/2017

Nobody Told Me to Oil My Boots

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Poetry Extra, Nobody Told Me to Oil My Boots

Daljit Nagra introduces Nobody Told Me To Oil My Boots, presented by Sir Antony Sher.

4 Extra Debut. Poet-in-Residence Daljit Nagra introduces Nobody Told Me To Oil My Boots, presented by Sir Antony Sher. From November 2008.

BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive and chooses the work of Isaac Rosenburg.

Sir Antony Sher tells the story of the First World War poet, whose reputation has been overshadowed by many of his better-known contemporaries - but was described by one of them, Siegfried Sassoon, as a genius.

He enlisted as a private to escape the poverty of London's East End and, besides the sufferings of army life, also had to come to terms with the anti-Semitism directed at him by his comrades.

Rosenberg's experiences are illuminated by both Sher's reading of some of his poems and also the letters he wrote to friends and family. 

Reader: Simon Schatzberger.

Producer: Peter Hoare

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2008.

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