The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed

Simon Dobson

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Episode notes

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink , waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills, he's been working on a new kind of poem he's invented - the Flyku - inspired by the moths and butterfies he sees around him. Any distraction is welcome, even encouraged, to talk about creativity, music, art, sheds, music, poetry and the countryside. This week Simon is joined by the composer and conductor Simon Dobson who is particularly noted for his brass band compositions . Their discussion takes in growing up in Cornwall in a brass banding family , fitting in at the Royal College of Music, tattooes and piercings, sell out- shows with rock and metal bands and composing one of his best- known pieces based on the Penlee lifeboat disaster Produced by Susan Roberts