Producer Eleanor McDowall Bob Cobbing’s playful experiments with sound and text have inspired a generation of poets, artists and composers. A writer whose work skittered between literature and music, poetry and artwork - he is, perhaps, best remembered for his extraordinary poetry readings. With his operatic, resonant voice he would boom, howl, chant and whisper leaving his audience enchanted and enraged in equal measures.

In this programme we delve into the work of Bob Cobbing - exploring his influence on the publishing world, his role in one of the most turbulent periods at the Poetry Society and the visual poem that outraged Margaret Thatcher.

Including archive provided courtesy of the British Library Bob Cobbing collection.

Repeated on Saturday 26th March 2011

Press

"...full of strange noises, electronic noodlings and sharply spitting wordplay"

Pick of the Week, Time Out, Lisa Mullen 17th March 2011