Jim MacCool
Encyclopedia
Jim MacCool is a British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 dramatic poet
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 in the shanachie or travelling bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...

 tradition. MacCool is the author of Ionan Tales, a series of twelve lengthy tales in verse inspired by the Canterbury Tales and which he has performed more than a thousand times in places from Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

 to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 since their premiere at a Sunday Times–sponsred Literary Festival at the 2000 Millennium. His shows typically combine his singing of Irish or Scots folk ballads, such as The Belle of Belfast City or Whiskey in the Jar
Whiskey in the Jar
"Whiskey in the Jar" is a famous Irish traditional song, set in the southern mountains of Ireland, with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry, as well as Fenit, a village in county Kerry. It is about a Rapparee , who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed...

, a poetic recitation and a Celtic drum performance. MacCool is the founder and patron of Britain's National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month is a celebration of poetry first introduced in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. It is celebrated every April in the United States and in Canada as well...

 and in August 2006 was named poet-in-residence
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...

 for Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...

, West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

.

On 13 November 2004, he presented two of his stories "The Boxer's Tale" and the "Story of Sawney Bean" in Pember Heath Village Hall, along with his renditions of Irish and Scottish folk ballads. One story told of a boxer's greed, drug abuse and the revenge of his lover that left him in a wheelchair, while the second told of Sawney Bean and his wife Black Agnes, who dabbled in witchcraft and cannibalism at the time of King James VI of Scotland
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

.

During the May 2008 Malvern Fringe Festival
Malvern Fringe Festival
The Malvern Fringe Festival is an arts festival which takes place in Great Malvern, England. The main events of the Malvern Fringe Festival are the MayDay and the annual three day festival held in June as a fringe to the Elgar Festival...

he performed two shows in rotation 18 times each over a six-day period. MacCool has also performed at the Buxton Fringe Festival and the Camden Fringe Festival, as well as at schools.

Jim MacCool took part in the Buxton Fringe Festival in 2010 and 2008 see the web site for reviews.http://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/reviews2008mus.html#66
http://www.buxtonfringe.org.uk/reviews2010for.html#10
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