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He was born in November 9, 1937 in Litherland. It is a part of north Liverpool, a city with which he is firmly associated in most people's minds.
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He was a pupil at St Mary's College in Crosby. Then he studied French and Geography at the University of Hull.The poet lived in one of the university residences, Needler Hall, for three years from 1955 and worked as a hall librarian.
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As a poet, he came to national prominence through the publication of The Mersey Sound in 1967. The Mersey Sound is an anthology of poetry by three Liverpool poets: Brian Patten, Adrian Henri and himself. The title of the anthology was a conscious association of the three Liverpool poets with the musical phenomenon caused by the eruption of the Beatles.
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1963 - 1973
He was a member of the pop music/poetry group 'The Scaffold'. The Scaffold performed a mixture of comic songs and comedy sketches. In 1971 Grimms was formed, originally as a merger of the Scaffold, the Bonzo Dog Band and the Liverpool Scene. -
Poet appeared in All You Need Is Cash, a mockumentary detailing the career of a Beatles-like group called The Rutles.
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One of his most unusual compositions was created in 1981, when he co-wrote an "electronic poem" called Now Press Return with the programmer Richard Warner.
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He wrote the lyrics for an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows , first staged in Washington, DC, in 1984.
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In 1991 he made a programme called Equinox: The Elements for Channel 4
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He won a Cholmondeley Award in 1998.
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He has won the Signal Poetry Award twice: first in 1984 with Sky in the Pie, then with Bad, Bad Cats in 1999 .
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He held a D.Litt from the University of Hull, and was honoured The Freedom of the City of Liverpool in 2003. The same year his Collected Poems was published.
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In 2005 he was awarded the CBE of the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to poetry.
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In 2012 his latest poetry collection is As Far As I Know was published.
