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: Lily Cole

Lily Cole

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Lily Cole is many things. Simon Armitage visits her in her shed to talks about them all.

Lily Cole, model, actress, entrepreneur, writer, filmmaker, environmentalist is many things. Simon Armitage visits her in her shed to talks about them all.

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. So when Lily Cole - model, actress and entrepreneur - extended an invite for him to visit her shed, he couldn't refuse. 

With a touch of shed envy, Simon discovers that Lily Cole's own writing shed has a wood-burning stove and superb views. Their conversation ranges from the true story of her discovery as a model at 14, wearing dramatic clothes and accidents on the catwalk, to working with tribes in the Amazon. From environmental concerns to running a business, from being bullied at school to a Cambridge degree.

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The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed

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