Blue plaque honour for poet's childhood home

The man who wrote Prime Minister Andy Burnham's favourite poem has been honoured with a blue plaque in his home city.

Poet Tony Harrison grew up in Leeds and is best known for his poem called V, which was inspired by the graffiti and empty beer cans he saw at Holbeck Cemetery where his ashes were later buried following his death, aged 88, in September last year.

Harrison's daughter Jane and partner Sian Thomas, along with Labour MP Richard Burgon, unveiled the plaque at The Hamara Healthy Living Centre in Beeston, across the street from the poet's former home at 120 Tempest Road.

Thomas said: "I know Tony would be so thrilled and moved to have this blue plaque on his childhood home."

She explained that Harrison would have been proud of the plaque "not only because the house itself played such an important part in his childhood and development, but also the plaque will help Tony himself, as the great international poet he became, to be remembered in such a vital way in the heart of the city that has always meant so much to him."

Harrison studied classics at the University of Leeds in the 1950s and later spent time working in Nigeria and Prague before settling in Newcastle.

His first published work, The Loiners, came in 1970, for which he won the Geoffrey Faber memorial prize, and he went on to publish more than a dozen volumes of poetry in the following five decades.

He also wrote for the National Theatre in London, the New York Metropolitan Opera and for the BBC.

A lifelong republican, Harrison published an anti-monarchist poem titled A Celebratory Ode on the Abdication of King Charles III in 1995.

He also ruled himself out of the royally-appointed role as Poet Laureate with a poem in which he said there should be no successor to Queen Elizabeth II.

Harrison often wrote about working class life and used his hometown of Leeds as inspiration.

His poem V, written at around the time of the 1984-85 Miners' Strike, caused controversy when a film adaptation was broadcast on Channel 4 in 1987.

Politicians and newspapers at the time complained of its heavy use of swear words, which Harrison had seen sprayed on gravestones around where his parents were buried.

At the time, Conservative MP Sir Gerald Howarth attempted to get the broadcast banned, while the Daily Mail described it as a "torrent of filth".

The prime minister recently described V as his favourite poem in an interview with Times Radio about literature.

Harrison's is the 211th blue plaque unveiled by Leeds Civic Trust, which is responsible for the scheme.

His daughter Jane said the plaque marking Harrison's childhood home was "a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Leeds and the northern roots that were so very important to my dad".

She added: "Thank you Leeds Civic Trust and the people of Beeston."

Burgon, who nominated Harrison for inclusion in the scheme, said he was "delighted" the trust had decided to put up the plaque.

"Tony Harrison is truly one of the greatest poets this country has ever produced," the MP said.

"On the page, stage, screen and in his incredible readings, he made poetry count.

"Leeds can be so proud to have given the world Tony Harrison."

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