Mr Fletcher, the Poet

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BBC Radio 4 - Mr Fletcher, the Poet

1986 documentary about mining community life by acclaimed radio producer Piers Plowright.

1986 documentary in which a Leicestershire builder, born into a mining community in 1907, remembers his life. Made by acclaimed radio producer Piers Plowright, who died in July.

In 1951, a Leicestershire builder, J.P. Fletcher, born into a mining community in 1907, won a Commonwealth Poetry Prize for his long poem, “Tally 300”, about mining life. In this programme Mr Fletcher remembers and revisits scenes from his childhood and adult life, including an extraordinarily vivid account of the slaughter of a pig. 

This documentary was made by the acclaimed radio producer Piers Plowright, who died earlier this year, and is being repeated on Radio 4 to commemorate his life and work in radio. First broadcast in 1986, the programme is a remarkable first person account of life in a mining community in the first half of the 20th century, and a fine example of the craft of Piers Plowright. 

Piers Plowright described himself as a 'radio man'. He had grown up in a home where the wireless was moved into the living room of an evening for family listening. Others have called Piers the Godfather of the British Radio Feature. In a 30-year BBC career, which began in 1968 as a trainee in English By Radio, after which he migrated via drama to documentaries, his programmes received radio's highest accolade, the Prix Italia, on three occasions. Yet he remained always modest, a practised listener, a supporter of colleagues, a composer of sound, silence and word, and - for all his erudition and love of culture - a mischievous spirit.

Research: Valery Hovenden
Location Recording: Ray Bravo
Producer: Piers Plowright

(Photo credit: Lucy Tizard)

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