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Simon Armitage, Stephen Hough, Chris Riddell on Asterix creator Albert Uderzo

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage on his new collection inspired by Yorkshire. Pianist Stephen Hough plays live. And Chris Riddell pays tribute to Asterix creator Albert Uderzo.

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage talks about his new poetry collection Magnetic Field: the Marsden Poems, which is inspired by the West Yorkshire village he grew up in.

As classical musicians struggle to cope with the loss of their income due to the cancellation of all concerts, Samira is joined by music critic Anna Picard, Deborah Annetts of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, and pianist Stephen Hough, who plays live from his home.

Former Children's Laureate Chris Riddell pays tribute to the French comic book artist Albert Uderzo, co-creator of Asterix, who has died aged 92.

Presenter: Timothy Prosser
Producer: Samira Ahmed

Main Image: Simon Armitage
Image credit: Robert Shiret/大象传媒

Available now

28 minutes

Simon Armitage

Simon Armitage

by is out now in hardback.

Simon Armitage's podcast The Poet Laureate Has Gone To His Shed is听on 大象传媒 Sounds

Images:

Main image above: Simon Armitage and his shed

Image credit: Robert Shiret/大象传媒

Image to the left: Simon Armitage

The Poet Laureate responds to the coronavirus crisis

Lockdown

And I couldn鈥檛 escape the waking dream

of infected fleas

in the warp and weft of soggy cloth

by the tailor鈥檚 hearth

in ye olde Eyam.

Then couldn鈥檛 un-see

the Boundary Stone,

that cock-eyed dice with its six dark holes,

thimbles brimming with vinegar wine

purging the plagued coins.

Which brought to mind the sorry story

of Emmott Syddall and Rowland Torre,

star-crossed lovers on either side

of the quarantine line

whose wordless courtship spanned the river

till she came no longer.

But slept again,

and dreamt this time

of the exiled yaksha sending word

to his lost wife on a passing cloud,

a cloud that followed an earthly map

of camel trails and cattle tracks,

streams like necklaces,

fan-tailed peacocks, painted elephants,

embroidered bedspreads

of meadows and hedges,

bamboo forests and snow-hatted peaks,

waterfalls, creeks,

the hieroglyphs of wide-winged cranes

and the glistening lotus flower after rain,

the air

hypnotically see-through, rare,

the journey a ponderous one at times, long and slow

but necessarily so.

Simon Armitage

Stephen Hough

Stephen Hough

Stephen Hough's album is out now.

Image:

Image credit: Sim Canetty-Clarke/大象传媒

Remembering Albert Uderzo

Remembering Albert Uderzo

Image: Albert Uderzo with his creations Asterix (Right) and Obelix.

Image credit: (c) Philippe Cauvin

Broadcast

  • Tue 24 Mar 2020 19:15

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