The latest news and comment on performance poet John Cooper Clarke
March 2024
The books of my life
John Cooper Clarke: ‘I read Kerouac at 12 and figured I could improve on it’
The punk poet on finally getting JD Salinger, why he rereads the Bible, and growing up with Rupert Bear and Batman
February 2024
Life, unplugged: a no-tech special
‘I write all my poems with a quill by candlelight’: John Cooper Clarke on the joy of life without tech
Poetry roundup
The best recent poetry – review roundup
December 2023
‘Good for Chanel and good for Manchester’: Fashion show delights city’s luminaries
Catwalk in the city’s fashionable Northern Quarter celebrated its musical, cultural and sporting prowess
April 2023
Honest playlist
John Cooper Clarke’s honest playlist: ‘The thrill of Elvis has never gone away’
The poet grew up listening to Bill Haley & His Comets and plays northern soul to kickstart a party, but whose blues does he find too painful to hear?
March 2023
Weekend
Marina Hyde on Boris’s last hurrah, the world’s favourite poem, and decoding midlife fashion – podcast
‘A billion listens? Is that a lot?’ John Cooper Clarke on penning possibly the world’s favourite poem
September 2022
‘You can feel the history in there’: the return of New Century Hall
It played host to Hendrix and the Stones and was a haven for acid-house parties. After lying dormant for years, Manchester’s iconic concert hall is back
March 2022
And did those feet: 10 walks inspired by famous poets
Matching rich verse with great scenery, these strolls follow in the footsteps of some of our greatest wordsmiths, from William Blake to Carol Ann Duffy
December 2021
TV review
We Wish You a Mandy Christmas review – Diane Morgan does proper belly laughs
Camp, retro and enjoyable for a glass or two, this Christmas Carol revamp is full of surreal gags, with Johnny Vegas and John Cooper Clarke offering ghostly support
September 2021
Lunch with...
John Cooper Clarke: ‘There’s three food groups I draw the line at – flapjack, falafel and tripe’
The poet relates tales of his childhood, run-ins with Bernard Manning – and explains why he wishes Ken Loach would lighten up
October 2020
Notebook
Carry On Coronavirus: why a vaccine trial has saucy potential
Tim Adams
Their counterparts in the Common Cold Unit found ways to flirt despite the social distancing measures they lived under
Observer book of the week
I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke review – chapter and verse
This riveting memoir of the Salford dandy’s ascent to national treasuredom charms with tales of heroin and Sugar Puffs
I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke review - wry and dry
The ‘bargain-basement Baudelaire’ looks back at his life with an unflinching gaze, plus plenty of gags and mad anecdotes
September 2020
From the Guardian archive
Archive, 1980: first Poetry Olympics held in Westminster Abbey
29 September 1980 Ten poets performed polemical poems, romantic ones, inspirational, tedious, long-winded and frankly inane ones
January 2020
The look I love
John Cooper Clarke: ‘I’ve dressed the same way since 1965’
The poet and performer on keeping his clothes simple, stapling them back together, and being fashionable once every 15 years for about three months
July 2019
In praise of John Cooper Clarke, our real poet laureate
Suzanne Moore
John Cooper Clarke: ‘I didn’t want to quit heroin’
March 2019
The best original photographs from the Observer
Original Observer photography
Life on a plate
John Cooper Clarke: ‘Only eat at the table. And don't watch TV while eating’
