Mary Rand – d. March 27th 2026

The jump is all we ever know;
the run-up of youth, building
speed for our stadium days,
the explosion into the air of
our prime, then the descent,
the hope we might all leave
our impression in the sand. 

Read about Mary Rand here

Valerie Perrine – d. March 23rd 2026

The camera loves those who deal
in damage; wives wed to madness,
showgirls who smile to reveal just
how broken they are, who play a role
only to find the role is playing them. 

Read about Valerie Perrine here

Chuck Norris – d. March 19th 2026

I know facts about Chuck Norris:
they invented a new colour for him
for a belt beyond black; even when
he played a bad guy he was good;
all his movies were really about him.

Read about Chuck Norris here

Tom Georgeson – d. March 18th 2026

Among the angst and anger of a nation
in decline was the ubiquitous Scouser;
weary, resigned, speaking the life of a
worried man, waiting for a punch from
above to knock him into the next scene.

Read about Tom Georgeson here

Len Deighton – d. March 15th 2026

They are holding a funeral
for an insubordinate spy;
somewhere cold and damp,
while a seedy war rages
in the shadows. A man in
NHS glasses drafts a final
report, for our eyes only. 

Read about Len Deighton here

Jenni Murray – d. March 12th 2026

There are stories that half of us strain
to hear over the babble of small print.
Broadcast this message to the unheard
and unseen: turn your radio on. You have
one hour. There’s not a minute to lose.

Read about Jenni Murray here

Country Joe McDonald – d. March 7th 2026

And it’s 1-2-3, what were you fighting for?
The music of sanity in an insane world.
And it’s 5-6-7, open up the pearly gates;
the lost patrol of the counterculture is here,
sounding off one-two in furious ragtime.

Reda about Country Joe McDonald

Jane Lapotaire – d. March 5th 2026

There is a silence in the wings, then
the boards creak, bearing the weight
of an entrance. The first line is spoken
in a voice rustling like stage curtains,
billowing out into breathless theatre.

Read about Jane Lapotaire here

Kenith Trodd – d. March 1st 2026

I choose television;
television without fear,
that sings while others shrug,
that shows the idiot in the lantern
before pulling back to show
ourselves in uncomfortable focus. 

Read about Kenith Trodd here

Neil Sedaka – d. February 27th 2026

Welcome to 1619 Broadway, a place
where writers search for Sixteen
among the keys of an old piano,
where songs pay five dollars a line,
but everybody knows them by heart. 

Read about Neil Sedaka here

Jesse Jackson – d. February 17th 2026

I fell into the company of marchers standing
at the foot of a rainbow, half way between the
mountain and the ghetto. Their leader told me
in a voice of fire Progress is not walking away
from something bad, but marching towards it. 

Read about Jesse Jackson here

Robert Duvall – d. February 15th 2026

If this were your poem, it would ring
with authenticity; it would choose its
words with care, deliver them like an
obscure gospel. But this poem is mine,
and if I say it's safe to write this poem,
then it's safe to write this poem. 

Read about Robert Duvall here