Jimmy Cricket – d. August 3rd 2026

Me mammy used to tell me
there’s a living to be made
in buck eejitry. She told me
not knowing your left from
your right is the beginning
of wisdom. C’mere, I’ll tell
you more; there is no more. 

Read about Jimmy Cricket here

Vincent Pastore – d. August 1st 2026

Don’t imagine you can trust a Fed,
or tell me you’re just Joe Schmoe,
takin’ care of business. We both know
what a rat smells like, how he acts
like he’s on the up-an’-up. Face facts;
even the wisest guys wind up dead. 

Read about Vincent Pastore here

Franco Baresi – d. 31st July 2026

In Italia hanno costruito un muro,
l'hanno dipinto di rosso e nero.
Ecco lo spazio dove un tempo
stava la sua piccola sentinella
come un'ombra ostinata,
il suo braccio sollevata per far
scattare la trappola,
sbattere il cancello,
sprangare la porta.
 
In Italy they built a wall, painted it
red and black. Here is the space
where its little watchman once
stood like a stubborn shadow,
arm raised to spring the trap,
slam the gate, bolt the door. 

Read about Franco Baresi here

Glen Hansard – d. July 29th 2026

Some are born to ramble, guitar
in one hand, sheaf of lustrous
stories in the other, busking them
from Ballymun to Grafton Street to
Broadway, the rascal on the corner,
just across from the gates of Hell. 

Read about Glen Hansard here

Ronnie Le Drew – d. July 27th 2026

It takes much to create life from cloth;
the precise crook of a finger becomes
beckoning or refusal, flexing of palm
becomes imitation of life, the innocent
misdirection in which all have a hand.

Read about Ronnie Le Drew here

Tom Chadbon - d.July 25th 2026

There are times you must feel
there are no roles left to cast,
that all the best lines are gone.
The director says Back to one;
your first line becomes your last,
and your life plays as a demo reel.

Read about Tom Chadbon here

Bill Oddie – d. July 25th 2026

By night vision I saw something
under my old trandem; a creature,
mostly hair, gnawing at a black
pudding, a mating call something
between wonder and melancholy,
and I’m sorry, I looked at it again. 

Read about Bill Oddie here

Gunther von Hagens – d. July 24th 2026

This is the story of the heart:
of all the territories of the body,
whose hills and plains I know,
the interior is the province art
hesitates to claim. I am ready;
expose the places I fear to go. 

Read about Gunther von Hagens here

William Orbit – d. July 23rd 2026

Some music carries the strangest cargo;
bliss and heartbreak, glistening beats,
guitar like the strumming of a rainbow,
strings like a final breath, torch songs
for machines to fall in love with humans.

Read about William Orbit here

Kevin Keegan – d. July 20th 2026

A season’s lease has too short a date;
one moment you’re the miner’s lad,
then, weasel in ermine, ball twined to
your toe, then a legend on another
nation’s telly, finally preaching a gospel
with only one chapter, that reads
we’re-gonna-score-one-more-than-you.

Read about Kevin Keegan here

Edward Stourton – d. July 18th 2026

How many times have I switched off
as fakes and stooges tell it like it isn’t?
The world spins, and nothing feels true,
and then a light goes on - Mic Live - and
here is intellect and wit, the quiet spark. 

Read about Edward Stourton here

Garfield Sobers – d. July 17th 2026

Six for the straight drive.
Six for one that turns late.
Six for one that just clears the rope.
Six for one clean over the gasometer.
Six for the one hit all the way to Swansea.
Six for the grass that blooms where you passed.

Read about Garfield Sobers here

Brenda Fricker – d. July 16th 2026

We are casting from life today,
looking for someone who can
strain word and action through
the sieve of experience, real
as rain falling on a busy street.

Read about Brenda Fricker here

Sam Neill – d. July 13th 2026

Range is the rarest craft,
to know doctor and devil,
father, husband, monster,
and be everything of each,
to take us to places where
we won’t need eyes to see.

Read about Sam Neill here

Antonio Rattín – d. July 11th 2026

El temperamento es una expresión propia,
emblema del club o nación, y la furia de un
hombre es la «cultura del aguante» de otro.
El juego exige una cosa: La pasión,
cómo lo juegas y cómo te juega a ti.
 
Temperament is an expression of its own,
emblem of club or nation, and one man’s
fury is another man’s cultura del aguante.
The game demands one thing: La pasión,
how you play it, and how it plays you.

Read about Antonio Rattín here

Dermot Murnaghan – d. July 11th 2026

We interrupt this programme
for a news bulletin; not news
in itself, but news of the news,
neither politics nor murder
sweetened by commercials,
but the story of a real story.

Read about Dermot Murnaghan here

Wally Funk – d. July 8th 2026

I have been a disciple of the sky,
set out my own flight plan, cast
my own shadow over the earth,
slipped the surly bonds of men
and shown the face of a woman.

Read about Wally Funk here

Anne Widdecombe – d. July 8th 2026

Politics is a show dance; a burlesque act
where the costume fits more tightly with
every season. Rhythm is the first thing
to fail; swing to the right, then further,
until you can no longer hear the music. 

Read about Ann Widdecombe here