Here's the late Christopher Logue the celebrated English poet reading from his series of poems "New Numbers" first published in 1969. He is introduced by Michael Horowitz at the first of six sunday recitals celebrating the 40th anniversary of the English poetry movement "New Departures" founded by Michael Horowitz in the late 1950's. I was initially invited along by poet Dave Russell and was then invited by Michael Horowitz to video the whole 6 weeks of performances during the hot summer afternoons of the summer of 1999.Most of it took place in the amphitheater outside the British Library building in St Pancras Central London except for one of the Sundays when the theatre was quickly used after it started raining. Christopher Logue, CBE (23 November 1926 -- 2 December 2011)[1] was an English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival and a pacifist. Christopher Logue was a playwright and screenwriter as well as a film actor. His screenplays were Savage Messiah and The End of Arthur's Marriage. He was a long-term contributor to Private Eye magazine, as well as writing for Alexander Trocchi's literary journal, Merlin. Logue won the 2005 Whitbread Poetry Award for Cold Calls.[5] His early popularity was marked by the release of a loose adaptation of Pablo Neruda's Twenty Love Poems, later released as an extended play recording, Red Bird: Jazz and Poetry, backed by a jazz group led by the drummer Tony Kinsey.[6] One of his poems, Be Not Too Hard, was set to music by Donovan and heard in the film Poor Cow (1967), and was made popular by Joan Baez on her eponymous 1967 album, Joan. Another completely different song titled "Be Not Too Hard" based on the poem was performed by Manfred Mann's Earth Band on their 1974 album The Good Earth. The arrangement was written by Mick Rogers, who had Logue credited as a co-writer on the record sleeve. Another well-known and well-quoted poem by Logue was Come to the Edge, which is often attributed to Guillaume Apollinaire, but is in fact only dedicated to him.[7] It was originally written for a poster advertising an Apollinaire exhibition at the ICA in 1961 or 1962, and was titled "Apollinaire Said", hence the misattribution.[8] His last major work was an ongoing project to render Homer's Iliad into a modernist idiom. This work is published in a number of small books, usually equating to two or three books of the original text. (The volume, Homer: War Music, was shortlisted for the 2002 International Griffin Poetry Prize.)[9] He published an autobiography, Prince Charming (1999). Michael Horovitz (born 1935) is an English poet, artist and translator.In 1959 he founded the New Departures publications while still a student, publishing William S. Burroughs, Samuel Beckett, and Stevie Smith. He continued to edit it for fifty years, coordinating many "Live" New Departures, Jazz Poetry SuperJams and Poetry Olympics festivals. Though initially associated with the British Poetry Revival, Horovitz became widely known on his appearance at the International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall on June 11, 1965, alongside Allen Ginsberg and Alexander Trocchi. In 1969 Penguin Books published his Children of Albion anthology. Introducing him to New York in 1970, Allen Ginsberg characterized him as a "Popular, experienced, experimental, New Jerusalem, Jazz Generation, Sensitive Bard". POETRY, MUSIC & SONG IN THE BRITISH LIBRARY PIAZZA A series of poetry and music events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of New Departures publications and arts circuses. Michael Horovitz will perform and MC at each event, which will pick up the major themes of the Post Impressions exhibition, opening at the library on 3 August 1999. Free entry; no tickets will be issued Limited seating; under cover if wet Further details in our leaflet, available on request from 0171 412 7332. Sunday 18 July, 13.00-15.30 Dick Heckstall-Smith (saxes) Bernard Kops Christopher Logue Dave Russell (guitar) Ifigenija Simonovic Michael Horovitz Sunday 25 July, 13.00-15.30 Patience Agbabi Valerie Bloom Fran Landesman Miles Landesman (guitar) Keith Waithe (flute) Michael Horovitz Sunday 1 August, 13.00-15.30 Attila the Stockbroker (fiddle, mandola, bass recorder, crumhorns) Jeni Couzyn Hanif Kureishi Peter Lemer (piano) Michael Horovitz Sunday 8 August, 13.00-15.30 Clive Bell (flute and oriental wind instruments) Libby Houston Roger McGough Jah Wobble/William Blake Michael Horovitz Sunday 15 August, 13.00-15.30 Jean `Binta' Breeze Frieda Hughes Mahmood Jamal Keith Waithe (flute) Michael Horovitz Sunday 22 August, 13.00-15.30 Adam Horovitz Inge Elsa Laird Grace Nichols Ruth Vaughn (violin) Michael Horovitz

• published: 19 Oct 2013
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