PIONEERING poet Michael Horovitz - who helped liberate the post war poetry scene from its academic confines and steer its passage in a more anarchic and inclusive direction - has died, aged 86.
He founded New Departures poetry publishing in 1959, brought Allen Ginsberg to Stroud in 1979, and launched the Poetry Olympics in 1980.
Michael moved to Stroud with his wife Frances and son Adam - who are both now acclaimed poets in their own right - in 1971 and has had a presence here ever since.
Born in 1935, Michael was the youngest of ten in a Jewish family based in Frankfurt, Germany, who all managed to escape to Britain before the Second World War ignited.