THE ITV flagship arts programme, The South Bank Show, dedicated itself to the surviving two-thirds of the Mersey Poets – Roger McGough and Brian Patten – with host Melvyn Bragg diplomatically explaining that they now lived near other rivers (the Thames and Dart).
Riding an open-top bus, our versifiers were bemused by “New� Liverpool’s building site condition, with
Patten unable to smother his disbelief when he said: “To think, this will be Capital of Culture in three months�, before quickly adding, “I’m sure it’ll be very good.� No point in getting oneself blackballed for future invitations to perform. Also, could not the Everyman Theatre have fixed its neon sign for my Lord Bragg’s visit?