Roger McGough OBE is one of the UK's most popular living poets. He has been enormously important in making poetry accessible and relevant to both child and adult audiences, often using everyday experiences such as bus rides and playground banter as the source of his work.

Roger first rose to prominence in the 1960's as a member of the pop group The Scaffold, who had two number one hits, Thank U Very Much and Lily In The Pink. Roger McGough began his poetry career with fellow Liverpool poets Adrian Henri & Brian Patten in the late 60's, who were all included in the best selling, highly accessible, modern poetry collection The Mersey Sound.

Roger broadcasts regularly and is the presenter of the BBC Radio 4's Poetry Please and also performs his poetry to audiences all over the British Isles. He received the Cholmondeley Award for poetry in 1998 and his OBE for services to Poetry in 1997, In 2001 he was honoured with the freedom of the city of Liverpool.

Roger was born in Liverpool in 1937 and now lives in Twickenham near London.

Profile last updated November 2002