McGough reads epic charter by 500 poets

Sep 15 2007 by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post

McGough reads epic charter by 500 poets

POET Roger McGough is to read a poem by 500 Liverpool people, at a major exhibition celebrating the city’s heritage, today.

The Big History Show started yesterday as part of Liverpool’s 800th birthday events, and continues today and tomorrow in and around St George’s Hall.

Besides the exhibitions and talks, one of today’s highlights will be the opening speech by McGough at 1pm in the Small Concert Room. He will give the first public reading of extracts from The Liverpool Saga and 800-line poem to represent each year of city history. Although he wrote the opening and closing sections, the remainder is made up of contributions from 500 local people. These 3,000 lines to be included in the Saga were whittled down to its final version by local poets Sylvia Hikens and Dave Ward.

Local writers will have a stall at the Big History Show being held at St George’s Hall today and tomorrow.

John Patrick Kerrigan will be promoting his book and DVD, Liverpool The Gateway to America. John Williams will be at the show between 11am and noon and 1 and 2pm today with his book and CD, Tales from the Mersey Mouth.

Historian Michael Kelly will be there with his new edition of The Life and Times of Kitty Wilkinson and Liverpool: The Irish Connection.

Angus Tilston will be promoting his history DVDs. John Minnion, caricaturist, will be exhibiting some of his work. Jim Elliott, author of Once Upon A Time in Liverpool will also be appearing.