Les Barker is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

. He is best known for his comedic

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 poetry and parodies

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of popular songs, however he has also produced some very serious thought-provoking written work.
Originally from Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 he trained in accountancy

Accountancy

Accountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. The communication is generally in the form of financial statements that show in money terms the economic resources under the control of management; the art lies in...

 before his talent for the written word was discovered. Initially he toured around folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 venues as a solo performer, and later with The Mrs Ackroyd Band

The Mrs Ackroyd Band

The Mrs Ackroyd Band, based in Manchester, consists of a core of Les Barker, Alison Younger, Hillary Spencer and Chris Harvey. Named for the late Mrs...

 (named after his mongrel

Mixed-breed dog

A mixed-breed dog, also known as a mutt or mongrel, is a dog whose ancestry is generally unknown and that has characteristics of two or more types of breeds. A mixed-breed may be a cross-breed dog, a random-bred dog, or a descendant of feral or pariah dog populations...

 dog Mrs Ackroyd.) Les is not a singer and the Mrs Ackroyd Band with classically trained vocalists Hilary Spencer and Alison Younger, with keyboard player Chris Harvey have enabled Les's parodies to be performed live to enthusiastic response.

As well as touring Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 he has also performed in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, the United States of America and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Poems, Parodies and Monologues

He has published 76 books to date and has released (either as a solo performer or with his band) 20 albums. His books typically feature a mixture of monologues and comic songs, with a few serious songs. The monologues tip the hat to Marriott Edgar

Marriott Edgar

Marriott Edgar , born George Marriot Edgar in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, was a poet, scriptwriter and comedian best known for writing many of the monologues performed by Stanley Holloway, particularly the 'Albert' series....

, who wrote many of the monologues performed by Stanley Holloway

Stanley Holloway

Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...

. Like Edgar, Barker has created several recurring characters and themes, including Jason and the Arguments, Cosmo the Fairly Accurate Knife Thrower, Captain Indecisive, The Far off Land of Dyslexia and Spot of the Antarctic. All of these have become trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

s of Barker's work. Both his funny and more serious songs have become standards for other singers such as Waterson:Carthy

Waterson:Carthy

Waterson:Carthy are an English folk group originally comprising Norma Waterson on vocals, her husband Martin Carthy on guitar and vocals and their daughter Eliza Carthy on fiddle and vocals....

 and June Tabor

June Tabor

June Tabor is an English folk singer.- Early years :June Tabor was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs' EP Hazards of Love in 1965. "I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learned the songs on that EP note for note, twiddle for twiddle. That's how I...

.

He is also remarkable as being one of the few writers to get the Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 place named Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantisiliogogogoch into a song successfully (it forms the main chorus of a song of the same name, and is sung four times). Les has now taken up residence in Wales and is fully proficient in that language, producing two books of poetry written in the Welsh tongue.

He has remained firmly rooted in the circuit of folk clubs and festivals where he has a devoted following. Many other folk-poets and comedy writers like Mike Harding

Mike Harding

Mike Harding is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet and broadcaster. He is known as 'The Rochdale Cowboy' after one of his hit records...

, Jasper Carrott

Jasper Carrott

Jasper Carrott OBE is a British comedian, actor, television presenter and personality.-Early life:...

, Billy Connolly

Billy Connolly

William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...

 and Max Boyce

Max Boyce

Maxwell Boyce MBE is a Welsh comedian, singer and former coal miner. He rose to fame during the mid-1970s with an act that combined musical comedy with his passion for rugby union and his origins in the mining communities of South Wales...

 have moved into a mass media market, but Les Barker remains one among a few remaining comedy acts that still continue to work the folk circuit. Bernard Wrigley

Bernard Wrigley

Bernard Wrigley is a singer, actor and comedian. He is sometimes known by the nickname "The Bolton Bullfrog"....

 and Keith Donnelly are other examples and Les has recently performed as part of a double act with the latter under the name "Idiot and Friend".

Guide Cats for the Blind

He also wrote a poem called "Guide Cats for the Blind" which led to an unexpected development. The poem was heard by Clive Lever, a keyboard player and comedy songwriter from Maidstone

Maidstone

Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...

, who is involved in an organisation called the "British Computer Association of the Blind" (BCAB). The Association runs a program called EyeT4all, which aims to make computers accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired. Clive got in touch with Les, who agreed to the poem being used as the title track of a double fundraising CD . Les also agreed to the recording of a series of albums, in which his poems and songs would be recorded by artists from the folk world, but also by well known celebrities from the entertainment and theatrical world. Presenters from all five BBC Radio stations featured on the albums and so far between £40,000 and £50,000 has been raised.

So far four "Guide Cats" albums have been produced, "Guide Cats for the Blind", "Missing Persians File" and "Top Cat, White Tie and Tails", and Cat Nav. The CDs contain performances of Les's poems by members of the folk world like June Tabor

June Tabor

June Tabor is an English folk singer.- Early years :June Tabor was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs' EP Hazards of Love in 1965. "I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learned the songs on that EP note for note, twiddle for twiddle. That's how I...

, Martin Carthy

Martin Carthy

Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...

, Steve Tilston

Steve Tilston

Steve Tilston is an English singer-songwriter.-Early years:Steve Tilston was born in Liverpool and raised in Leicestershire. Tilston was a graphic designer before taking up music in 1971, living in Bristol at the time, where he recorded his first album "An Acoustic Confusion". In the early...

, Mike Harding

Mike Harding

Mike Harding is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet and broadcaster. He is known as 'The Rochdale Cowboy' after one of his hit records...

 and Tom Paxton

Tom Paxton

Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...

 but also well known figures like Jimmy Young

Jimmy Young (disc jockey)

Sir Jimmy Young CBE was a British singer, disc jockey and radio interviewer.-Early life:...

, Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons

Nicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:...

, Brian Perkins

Brian Perkins

Brian Perkins is a senior newsreader on BBC Radio 4.All of Perkins' relatives are New Zealanders, although they refer to England as home...

, Terry Wogan

Terry Wogan

Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...

, Nicky Campbell

Nicky Campbell

Nicholas Andrew Argyll "Nicky" Campbell is a Scottish radio and television presenter and journalist. He is known for his time presenting on programmes such as the consumer affairs programme Watchdog...

, Robert Lindsay

Robert Lindsay (actor)

Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...

, Prunella Scales

Prunella Scales

Prunella Scales CBE is an English actress, known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy Fawlty Towers and her award-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution.-Career:Throughout her long career, Scales has usually been cast...

 and Andrew Sachs

Andrew Sachs

Andrew Sachs is a German-born British actor. He made his name on British television and is best known for his portrayals of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, a role for which he was BAFTA-nominated, and Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.-Early life:Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina , a...

.

Recent Developments and Poet Laureate Campaign

Shortly after a heart attack in January 2008, Barker began solo gigging again.

He has also, since taking up residence in Wales, become fluent in the native tongue. In 2008 he was awarded the NIACE Inspire Award as Welsh Learner of the Year, and recited his poem "Have you Got Any News of the Iceberg?" in Welsh at the presentation in Swansea.

In 2009, a campaign by his folk fanbase sought to have him chosen as the British Poet Laureate.

Books

• Airedale
• Alexander Greyhound Bell
• Alsatians to Crewe
• Bark Odes
• Bark to Front
• The Beagle has Landed
• Beagles, Bangles and Beads
• Beyond Our Cairn
• The Boogie Woogie Beagle Boy from Company B
• Borzoi Ballet
• The Borzoi's Back in Town
• The Boxer Rebellion
• Break the Mole
• Collieflowers
• Corgasm
• Corgi and Bess
• Dachshunds With Erections Can't Climb Stairs
• Dog Byte
• Dog Ends
• Dog Gone
• Dog Only Nose
• Doggerel
• The English Book of Penguin Folk Songs
• Extra Terrierestrial
• Fetlar
• The First Mutt is the Cheapest
• Get a Dog and Barker Yourself
• The Green Eye of the Little Yellow Dog
• Her Master's Book
• The Hound of Music
• The Hound of the Basketballs
• I Camel, I Saw, I Conker
• I Hear the Sound of Distant Plums
• Illegal Annual
• Irritable Bow-Wow Syndrome
• Jack Spaniel's
• King Charles Spaniel
• Labrador Rigby
• Lady & the Trampoline
• Llandrindod and One Dalmatians
• The Mabidogion
• Man and Doberman
• Mastiff Central
• Medlock Delta Blues
• Morocco and Things
• Mrs. Ack Royd's Again
• Mrs. Ackroyd's Diary
• O Camel Ye Faithful
• The Official Retriever
• Paws for Thought
• Pekinese Up Mother Brown
• Pup Yours
• A Quite Short Goat and a Pink Dalmatian
• Red Setters in the Sunset
• Reign of Terrier
• Rover the Hills and Far Away
• Rover the Rainbow
• Roverdance: The Poems
• Royders of the Lost Ack
• Sitting With My Dog on Display
• Something to Sniff At
• Songs for Swingin' Tails
• Spaniel in the Lion's Den
• Spencer's Dog Rover
• The First Mutt is the Cheapest
• The Stones of Callanish
• The Collar Purple
• THE MRS ACKROYD OCCASIONAL TABLE BOOK
• THE MRS ACKROYD PERIODIC TABLE BOOK
• A Tail of Two Setters
• Upper Cruft
• Vincent Van Dogh
• Viva a Spaniel
• Vodabone
• Waiting for Dogot
• Werneth Willie Ackroyd
• Wolfhound Amadeus Mozart
• 101 Damnatians

Albums

• A Cardi and Bloke
• Airs of the Dog
• An Infinite Number of Occasional Tables
• Arovertherapy
• Dark Side of the Mongrel
• Dog 017 Yelp!
• Dogologues
• Earwigo
• Gnus & Roses
• Guide Cats for the Blind
• The Mrs. Ackroyd Rock'n'Roll Show
• Mrs. Ackroyd: Superstar!
• Oranges & Lemmings
• Probably the Best Album Ever Made by Anybody in Our Street
• Some Love
• The Missing Persians File
• The Stones of Callanish
• The War on Terrier
• Top Cat, White Tie and Tails
• Tubular Dogs
• Twilight of the Dogs
• Up the Creek without a Poodle
• The Wings of Butterflies
• Yelp!

External links

• Mrs Ackroyd (Band) Home Page
• Biography
• [ All Music Guide biography by Craig Harris]