Roger McGough
Overview
 
Roger Joseph McGough CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 9 November 1937) is a well-known English performance poet. He presents the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

 programme Poetry Please
Poetry Please
Poetry Please is a weekly radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in which listeners request poems, which are then read by a cast of actors. The current presenter is Roger McGough...

and records voice-overs for commercials, as well as performing his own poetry regularly. He is a Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University is a British 'modern' university located in the city of Liverpool, England. The university is named after John Moores and was previously called Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts and later Liverpool Polytechnic before gaining university status in 1992, thus...

  and is a Vice President of the Poetry Society
Poetry Society
The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry".The Society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society in 1912...

.
Roger McGough was born in Litherland
Litherland
Litherland is a suburban village in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. It was formerly an urban district, which included Seaforth and Ford...

, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

. He was a pupil at St Mary's College in Crosby
Crosby, Merseyside
Crosby is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Lancashire it is situated north of Bootle, south of Southport, Formby and west of Netherton-History:...

 with Laurie Taylor
Laurie Taylor (sociologist)
Laurence John "Laurie" Taylor is an English sociologist and radio presenter originally from Liverpool.-Academic career:After attending Roman Catholic schools including the direct grant grammar school St Mary's College in Crosby at the same time as Liverpool poet, Roger McGough, Taylor first...

, future sociologist and criminologist, before going on to study French and Geography at the University of Hull
University of Hull
The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...

 at a time when Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...

 was the librarian there.
Quotations

There's the moon trying to look romanticMoon's too old that's her troubleAren't we all?

"Aren't We All", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

Wasn't a bad party reallyExcept for the people

"Aren't We All", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

The general at the radar screenRubbed his hands with glee,And grinning pressed the buttonAnd started world war three.

"Icarus Allsorts", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

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?

"Icarus Allsorts", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

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

"At Lunchtime A Story of Love", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

... i stood up and said it was a pity that the world didn't nearlyend every lunchtime and that we could alwayspretend. ...

"At Lunchtime A Story of Love", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

When you are posthumous it is cold and darkand that is why patriots are a bit nuts in the head

"Why Patriots are a Bit Nuts in the Head", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

he thinks about his journey nearly done.One day he'll clock on and never clock offor clock off and never clock on

"My Busconductor", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

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

"Mother the Wardrobe is Full of Infantrymen", from The Mersey Sound (1967)

 
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