Talking Myself Home is Yorkshire poet, comedian & broadcaster Ian McMillan’s life story in poems.

Here’s a portrait of an unregarded place  -  Darfield, near Barnsley, a place mentioned (briefly) in the Domesday book and now trying to reinvent itself after the wholesale closure of the mining industry. And a love story between Lt Cdr J. McMillan, a Scottish sailor and Olive Wood, a young lass in Yorkshire.

The life story is that of John and Olive’s son, the Bard of Barnsley, from Low Valley Junior School and Wath Grammar School to Oscar the Frog (Barnsley’s first folk-rock band) and Jaws (Barnsley’s first folk-poetry duo) and beyond. A life lived with words at its core.

“In some ways it’s a tiny life; a few ripples in a pond far from the centre of things, a few lines written in celebration and commemoration of places and times that deserve better. In another way it’s a shout of hope, that we can find the centre anywhere and celebrate it.”

Arrested for love. Sir Alec Clegg. Third Lanark. West Riding County Library. Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat. The Beano. The nation needs coal and the nation needs miners. First gig, worst gig, early punk, writers’ workshops, unbearable loss, a moon landing in pyjamas, the democracy of creativity, Barnsley’s Brazilian spell in the Premiership, doctorates and a grandson.

Ian’s verse autobiography Talking Myself Home (John Murray Publishing) is out on 4 Sept.

‘The John Peel of poetry’ Alec Finlay
‘One of my all-time heroes  -  he’s such a talented bloke, I could kill him’ Mike Harding

UK Touring press Jim Howden 01568 620515 jim@uktouring.org.uk
UK Touring agency Adrian Mealing 01684 540366 adrian@uktouring.org.uk
13 Nov        KENDAL The Brewery                     01539 725133
17 Nov        HUDDERSFIELD Lawrence Batley Theatre             01484 430528
18 Nov        YORK Riverlines, City Screen Basement Bar         0871 704 2054
21 Nov        LEEDS Seven Arts                     0113 26 26 777
3 Dec        BARNSLEY University Centre                 01226 606262
6 Mar’09        KESWICK Words By The Water                 017687 74411

Information from Adrian Mealing of UK Touring, touring agents for Andrew Motion, Roger McGough, Brian Patten and John Hegley www.uktouring.org.uk

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