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 golden treasury, which then was the go to anthology
RM of BTS uploaded an Instagram update on Friday, only to take it down a few minutes later. Last Friday, the leader of BTS posted a photo in an Instagram Story only to take it down a few minutes later.
for things that had been lost. and i think, you know, you have to have that in your back pocket, as a poet. usually on this programme, we normally end with, you know, one final question and answer, i actually am going to ask you if we can end today s programme with you reading from. i think a poem that sums up the way you are today. you ve called it the luckiest guy alive. that s right, yeah. yeah, yeah. but for how long? let s end on it and then decide. right, then. so, here it is. the titular poem to my latest anthology, the luckiest guy alive. nothing matters and what if it did? there s more than one way to make a quid. you ll be farting through silk if you stick with me, kid i m the luckiest guy alive. life is one big happy skive. the luckiest guy alive. just waiting for the trouble to arrive. on the fairway, i m under par.