His performance on Friday 5th April takes its title from Ian’s autobiography ‘Talking Myself Home’ which tells his life story in verse. Set in a place where coal-pits once dominated the skyline, this is a world of milk floats and jumble sales, municipal libraries and church halls. The whole spectrum of Ian’s colourful life is set to words, from his formation of Barnsley’s first folk-rock band and stint working in a tennis-ball factory, to raising his three children and coming to terms with his parents’ deaths. Ian’s verse is both hilarious and acutely observed – with titles such as ‘Santa came from Halifax’ and ‘Slough Revisited’ how could it be anything else!

Appearing alongside Ian this year will be his son Andrew, a talented prize-winning poet in his own right. Whilst Andrew has undoubtedly inherited the writing gene from his father, the style is all his own, very human and occasionally edgy.

With Ian’s performance likened to ‘the verbal gymnastics of a north country Spike Milligan coupled with the comic timing of Eric Morecambe’ by Frome Festival, and hailed as ‘World-class – one of today’s greatest poetry performers’ by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, this really is a show not to be missed. Ian won’t decide what he’s going to perform until he’s met the audience on the night, but it’s fair to expect plenty of interactivity and improvisation, with an undeniably comic twist!

Tickets for Ian and Andrew’s show, and for all the other performers, are available online at www.wenlockpoetryfestival.org or from the Festival Box Office at the Corn Exchange, High Street, Much Wenlock. Call 07561 208841 for opening times.