The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed

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Poet Laureate Simon Armitage talks to guests about life, language and music in his shed.

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage is a former probation officer, DJ and poet celebrated for his witty and profound take on modern life. He writes in the shed in his garden, and in this podcast he invites guests to join him to talk about poetry, creativity, music, art, sheds, sherry and the countryside.

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The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed: Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley

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Sculptor Antony Gormley drops by to talk to Simon Armitage in his shed.

Sculptor Antony Gormley, creator of the Angel of the North, Field for the British Isles, and Quantum Cloud drops by to talk to Simon Armitage in his shed.

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink and waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills and the Pennine weather, he scratches away at his reworking of the comic medieval poem The Owl and the Nightingale. Any distraction is welcome, even encouraged, to talk about poetry, music, art, sheds, sherry, owls, nightingales and to throw light on some of the poem's internal themes. 

Sculptor Antony Gormley's visit begins with a walk around the garden where his eye is caught by some huge Yorkshire standing stones. Their conversation ranges from The Angel of the North, placing sculpture in the landscape and the sea to the skills of the shipyard and the relationship between art and engineering. From body shape to chemistry sets, potions and explosions to Antony's first work of art - two eyes, carved into a wall at his old school.

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The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed

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