from outside europe. and the british public will be invited to swear allegiance to king charles, and his heirs, during his coronation on saturday. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. there i ve just used seven words and communicated quite a lot. words can bind us together or push us apart. in a sense, we are all wordsmiths, but many of us shy away from the art form that best harnesses the power of words poetry. but not my guest today. john cooper clarke was once dubbed the punk poet . all his life, he has used words, rhythm and rhyme to find humour and truth in the chaos of everyday life. thanks to the internet, one of his poems has become a worldwide viral sensation. so, where does his word magic come from? john cooper clarke, welcome to hardtalk. hello, stephen. it s great to have you here, john. ijust read your memoir and one of the first sentences in it is this one all my life, all i ever wanted to be was a professional poet. now,
but not my guest today. john cooper clarke was once dubbed the punk poet . all his life, he has used words, rhythm and rhyme to find humour and truth in the chaos of everyday life. thanks to the internet, one of his poems has become a worldwide viral sensation. so, where does his word magic come from? john cooper clarke, welcome to hardtalk. hello, stephen. it s great to have you here, john. ijust read your memoir and one of the first sentences in it is this one all my life, all i ever wanted to be was a professional poet. now, i ve heard of kids who want to be train drivers, professional footballers, but very rare to find a kid who always knew he wanted to be a poet. how come? when i say always, i guess from the age of 12 i became enamoured of poetry, thanks to an inspirational teacher mr malone john malone. who, although he was a rugged, outdoor sporty type of guy, he was a complex character and had a weakness for the poetry of the 19th century the stuff you migh
john cooper clarke was once dubbed the punk poet . all his life, he has used words, rhythm and rhyme to find humour and truth in the chaos of everyday life. thanks to the internet, one of his poems has become a worldwide viral sensation. so, where does his word magic come from? john cooper clarke, welcome to hardtalk. hello, stephen. it s great to have you here, john. ijust read your memoir and one of the first sentences in it is this one all my life, all i ever wanted to be was a professional poet. now, i ve heard of kids who want to be train drivers, professional footballers, but very rare to find a kid who always knew he wanted to be a poet. how come? when i say always, i guess from the age of 12 i became enamoured of poetry, thanks to an inspirational teacher mr malone john malone. who, although he was a rugged, outdoor sporty type of guy, he was a complex character and had a weakness for the poetry of the 19th century the stuff you might find in the palgrave s
coming up: the government s challenged over its plans to delay its proposals to clean up our air. should children be able to take their books into their english literature exams? and with parliament due to come to an end this week, so mps can hit the campaign trail, a lords minister is gearing up for a busy time. when all the mps disappear to try and get re elected, it is the lords minister who does all the work. the environment secretary says the government will publish draft plans to tackle air pollution on 30th june, with a final plan in mid september. the courts had given ministers until 4pm on monday to set out measures to combat illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution. on friday the department for environment, food and rural affairs lodged an application with the high court to postpone publication of its draft clean air plan until after the election. it argued the move was necessary to comply with election purdah rules limiting government announcements with polit