The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed

Ian McKellen

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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 butterflies he sees around him. Any distraction is welcome, even encouraged, to talk about creativity, music, art, sheds, music, poetry and the countryside. To kick of the new series, Sir Ian McKellen, whose acting career spans seven decades joins Simon to talk about everything from his early childhood in Wigan , creating the character of Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, remembering Shakespearian lines and getting an Elvish tattoo Produced by Susan Roberts