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Roger McGough Biography (1937-)

Born November 9, 1937, in Liverpool, England; son of Roger Francis (a docker)and Mary Agnes (McGarry) McGough; married Thelma Monaghan, 1970 (divorced, 1980); married Hilary Clough, December, 1986; children: (first marriage) Finn,Tom; (second marriage) Matthew, Isabel. Addresses: Agent--Peters, Fraser, and Dunlop, 503 The Chambers, Chelsea Harbour, Lots Rd., London SW10 0XF, England.

Nationality

English

Gender

Male

Birth Details

November 9, 1937

Liverpool, England

Famous Works

• Writings;Plays
• The Puny Little Life Show, produced in London, 1969, published by Penguin(Harmondsworth, England), 1973.
• Stuff, produced in London, 1970, published in Open Space Plays, edited byCharles Marowitz, Penguin, 1974.
• Golden Nights and Golden Days, Nottingham Playhouse, Nottingham, England,1979.
• Summer with Monika (based on the book), Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London, 1979.
• The Lifeswappers, Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1980.
• Watchwords, Nottingham Playhouse, 1980.
• All the Trimmings, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, 1980.
• (With Patten) Behind the Lines (revue), Tricycle Theatre, London, 1982.
• (With Patten) The Mouthtrap, Edinburgh Festival, 1982.
• Lyricist (with William Perry), Wind in the Willows, Washington, DC, 1984,then Nederlander Theatre, New York City, 1985.
• Also author of Birds, Marriages, and Deaths, produced in London, 1964; The Chauffeur-Driven Rolls, produced in Liverpool, England, 1966; The Commission, produced in Liverpool, England, 1967; Zones, produced in Edinburgh, 1969;P.C. Plod, produced in London, 1971; Word Play, produced in London, 1975; Like Father, Like Son, Like, produced in Nottingham, 1980; and A Matter of Chance (dance play; based on a story by Vladimir Nabokov), produced in London andEdinburgh, both 1988.
• Writings; Screenplays
• Author of the screenplay Plod, 1972.
• Writings; Television Plays
• Author of The Lifeswappers, 1976; Kurt, Mungo, B. P., and Me, 1984; FastForward, 1986; and The Elements.
• Writings; Television Movies
• Lyricist for Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil, 1985.
• Writings; Radio Plays
• Radio plays include Gruff: A Television Commercial, 1977; Walking the Dog, 1981; The Narrator, 1985; and FX, 1989.
• Writings; Children's Books
• Mr. Noselighter, Deutsch (London), 1976.
• The Great Smile Robbery, Kestrel (Harmondsworth), 1982.
• Sky in the Pie (poems), Kestrel, 1983.
• Crocodile Puddles (fiction), Pyramid, 1984.
• The Stowaways, Kestrel, 1986.
• Noah's Ark (poems), Collins, 1986.
• Nailing the Shadow (poems), Viking Kestrel, 1987.
• An Imaginary Menagerie (poems), Viking Kestrel, 1988.
• Helen Highwater: A Shropshire Lass (narrative poem), Viking Kestrel, 1989.
• Counting by Numbers (poems), Viking Kestrel, 1989.
• Pillow Talk (poems), Viking, 1990.
• The Lighthouse that Ran Away (narrative poem), Bodley Head, 1991, Trafalgar, 1992.
• My Dad's a Fire-Eater (fiction), Puffin, 1992.
• Lucky (poems), Viking, 1993.
• Stinkers Ahoy! (fiction), Viking, 1994.
• The Magic Fountain (fiction), Bodley Head, 1995.
• The Kite and Caitlin (fiction), Bodley Head, 1996.
• Author of Another Custard Pie, 1993.
• Writings; Other
• (With Henri and Patten) The Mersey Sound: Penguin Modern Poets Ten, Penguin, 1967.
• "Frinck," "A Life in the Day of," and "Summer with Monika": Poems (noveland poems), Ballantine (New York), 1967.
• Watchwords (poems), J. Cape (London), 1969, new edition, 1972, MerrimackBook Service (Topsfield, MA), 1979.
• After the Merrymaking (poems), J. Cape, 1971, Merrimack Book Service, 1979.
• Out of Sequence (poems), Turret Books (London), 1973.
• Gig (poems), J. Cape, 1973, Merrimack Book Service, 1979.
• Sporting Relations (poems), Eyre Methuen (London), 1974.
• (Coauthor) Clowns on the Road, Eyre Methuen, 1974.
• In the Glassroom (poems), J. Cape, 1976, Merrimack Book Service, 1979.
• Summer with Monika (poems), revised edition, Deutsch, 1979.
• Holiday on Death Row, J. Cape, 1979.
• (With Michael Rosen) You Tell Me, Kestrel, 1979.
• Unlucky for Some, Turret Books, 1981.
• (Editor and author of introduction) Strictly Private: An Anthology of Poetry, Kestrel, 1981.
• Waving at Trains, J. Cape, 1982.
• (With Henri and Patten) New Volume, Penguin, 1983.
• Melting into the Foreground, Viking, 1986.
• (Editor) The Kingfisher Book of Comic Verse, Kingfisher, 1986.
• Selected Poems, 1967-1987, J. Cape, 1989, published as Blazing Fruit, Penguin, 1990.
• Defying Gravity, Viking, 1992.
• Other books include You at the Back: Selected Poems, Volume III, 1991. Work represented in anthologies, including The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, Norton (New York), 1973; and The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century Verse, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1981.

Further Reference

Books:

• Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 40: Poets of Great Britain andIreland Since 1960, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1985.
• Thurley, Geoffrey, The Ironic Harvest, [London], 1974, pp. 195-197.