The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed

If the poets of the past sat in their garrets dipping their quills in ink and waiting for inspiration to strike, our current Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has a more mundane and domestic arrangement. From his wooden shed in the garden, surrounded on all sides by the Pennine Hills and the Pennine weather, he scratches away at his reworking of the comic medieval poem The Owl and the Nightingale.

Any distraction is welcome, even encouraged, to talk about poetry, music, art, sheds, sherry, owls, nightingales and to throw light on some of the poem's internal themes. The first person to drop by is Guy Garvey, lead singer of Elbow, fellow birdwatcher and 6 Music presenter. Once the door of the shed is shut the conversation goes wherever it likes - from the business of writing songs in a band to singing in the church choir, from old harmoniums to village pantomimes and from fathers to children.

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage is a former probation officer, DJ and a poet celebrated for his witty and profound take on modern life.