Papers of Roger McGough

Dates:  
1974-1983

Description

Admin History:

Roger Joseph McGough was born in Liverpool on 9th November 1937. He studied French and Geography at Hull University, returning to Liverpool in the early 1960s as a French teacher. As a member of the pop group, Scaffold he wrote the lyrics for many of the group's hit songs including 'Lily the Pink' which reached No1 in December 1968.

As one of the Liverpool poets alongside Adrian Henri and Brian Patten, producing The Mersey Sound (1967), The Liverpool scene (1967) and New Volume (1983). He wrote some of the dialogue for the Beatle animation film Yellow Submarine and also appeared on the mockumentary The Rutles which appeared in 1978. He has published over 50 books including Selected Poems 1967-1987 (1989). He won a BAFTA award for Kurt, Mungo, BP and me (1984), and wrote the lyrics for the musical Wind in the Willows, performed on Broadway in 1985-86.

He is host on BBC Radio 4's Poetry Please and was awarded an O.B.E. for services to poetry in 1997 and a C.B.E in 2004. In 2003 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool. He is currently President of The Poetry Society.

Description:
The collection comprises four notebooks containing notes for, and drafts of, poems and copies of correspondence with Philip Larkin.