Papers of Roger McGough

This material is held atHull University Archives, Hull History Centre

  • Reference
    • GB 50 U DX92
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1974-1983
  • Language of Material
    • English
  • Physical Description
    • 8 items

Scope and Content

The collection comprises four notebooks containing notes for, and drafts of, poems and copies of correspondence with Philip Larkin.

Administrative / Biographical History

Roger Joseph McGough was born in Liverpool on 9th November 1937. He studied French and Geography at Hull University, returning to Liverpool in the early 1960s as a French teacher. As a member of the pop group, Scaffold he wrote the lyrics for many of the group's hit songs including 'Lily the Pink' which reached No1 in December 1968.

As one of the Liverpool poets alongside Adrian Henri and Brian Patten, producing The Mersey Sound (1967), The Liverpool scene (1967) and New Volume (1983). He wrote some of the dialogue for the Beatle animation film Yellow Submarine and also appeared on the mockumentary The Rutles which appeared in 1978. He has published over 50 books including Selected Poems 1967-1987 (1989). He won a BAFTA award for Kurt, Mungo, BP and me (1984), and wrote the lyrics for the musical Wind in the Willows, performed on Broadway in 1985-86.

He is host on BBC Radio 4's Poetry Please and was awarded an O.B.E. for services to poetry in 1997 and a C.B.E in 2004. In 2003 he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool. He is currently President of The Poetry Society.

Access Information

Access will be granted to any accredited reader

Custodial History

Donated by Roger McGough, Liverpool, 18 Jul 1974 [U DX92/1-3], Jul 1980 [U DX92/4-7], and Aug 1983 [U DX92/8]

Related Material

There is a large volume of modern poetry material in the University archives including the papers and workbooks of Philip Larkin (U DPL), material by Florence Margaret 'Stevie' Smith (U DP/156 and U DP/209), archives of several poetry magazines including New Review (U DP168), Wave (U DP158) and Spectacular Diseases (U DP191) and Reality Studios (U DRS).