(born 9 November 1937) is a well-known English performance poet. He presents the BBC Radio 4
programme Poetry Please
and records voice-overs for commercials, as well as performing his own poetry regularly. He is a Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University
and is a Vice President of the Poetry Society
.
Roger McGough was born in Litherland
, Liverpool
. He was a pupil at St Mary's College in Crosby
with Laurie Taylor
, future sociologist and criminologist, before going on to study French and Geography at the University of Hull
at a time when Philip Larkin
was the librarian there.
There's the moon trying to look romanticMoon's too old that's her troubleAren't we all?
Wasn't a bad party reallyExcept for the people
The general at the radar screenRubbed his hands with glee,And grinning pressed the buttonAnd started world war three.
The general at the radar screenhe should have got the sackBut that wouldn't bringThree thousand million, seven hundred, and sixty-eight people back,Would it?
When the busstopped suddenly to avoiddamaging a mother and child in the road, theyounglady in the greenhat sitting oppositewas thrown across me, and not being one tomiss an opportunity i started to makelove
... i stood up and said it was a pity that the world didn't nearlyend every lunchtime and that we could alwayspretend. ...
When you are posthumous it is cold and darkand that is why patriots are a bit nuts in the head
he thinks about his journey nearly done.One day he'll clock on and never clock offor clock off and never clock on
there is a mushroom cloud in the back gardeni did i tried to bring in the catbut it simply came to pieces in my handi did i tried to whitewash the windowsbut there weren't any