Talk:Simon Armitage

Dates
I'm sure the eclypse in cornwall was '98 (I was there!) bu at the btoom it says that he wrote eclypse in '97. Can anyone confirm which is correct? Or even if he wrote it beofre the eclpse actually happened? Larklight 16:59, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

It was 1999, because I was at a summer school in Bath at the time.Vince Calegon 17:30, 5 October 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vince Calegon (talk • contribs)

In an interview Armitage did with Jim Mulligan, he says he chose the location as 1999, 'when we WOULD witness the last total elclipse...', implying it was before, but i need to find a source for this yet Dragon of Xi Liang 09:12, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Apparently it was published as part of 'Cloudcukooland' which was done in '97, and was th final piece in it. Biography and works of famous authors. He's the last 1. Dragon of Xi Liang 09:24, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

More information?
There is very little about Armitage himself. Can anyone add to it. Work hard, Play hard, Drink harder 14:17, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

His profile in Poets.org states that he was born in the village of Marsden, Huddersfield. Please confirm whether the birth location is correct. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.8.38.182 (talk) 03:32, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

I understand that he has special needs. --95.146.239.15 (talk) 21:30, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

I think the style of this article is occasionally problematic, as in the informal aside about his libretto on Leeds nightlife being "as interesting as it sounds" (TF) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.11.177.111 (talk) 19:17, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Daily Vandalism
This page is getting screwed with every day - probably by mostly students having to study him as part of school curricula. Would anyone support protecting the page - short though it is? Spanglej (talk) 17:52, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Armitage Shanks
Is he by any chance related? --OhNoPeedyPeebles (talk) 20:41, 7 February 2010 (UTC) yuh lol — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.151.228.233 (talk) 19:09, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

Maybe related to the 1998 one hit wonders Shanks & Bigfoot. Oh no, that would be related to Armitage Shanks. Oh I don't know shush. Satyris410 (talk) 20:46, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

radio works and anthologies
I suggest cutting the sections the 'works' section on radio and the anthologies he is included in. He has done a great deal of work with the BBC, far too many projects to mention in any meaningful way and as one of the UK's most high profile poets currently, he is included in a great many anthologies. Listing the ones he has edited is sufficient, I'd say. Thoughts? Spanglej (talk) 04:16, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Simon Robert Armitage
Or is it Simon Christopher Armitage ? Could someone please reliably source his middle name? I'm reverting to Christopher. I'm sure there is a Robert out there, but his middle name in the article has been Christopher.Dlohcierekim (talk) 13:36, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

Disc Jockey
Simon Armitage was the subject of "Profile" on BBC Radio 4 on May 18 2019 and it was said that he was the first poet laureate who was also a disc jockey. Could this be mentioned in the article? Vorbee (talk) 18:14, 18 May 2019 (UTC)

Is it just me?
Section: career Subtitle: writing Paragraph: 4

Ends with the following sentence that, to me, makes little sense.

"Along the route he stopped to give poetry readings, often in exchange for donations of money, food or accommodation, despite the rejection of the free life seen in his 1993 poem, the Hitcher, and has written a book about his journey, called Walking Home."

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that this needs looking at? I suppose it's difficult to find the original author to determine what it is they meant. Or if someone could help me I'd be very grateful! Thank you Satyris410 (talk) 20:44, 15 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Hi Satyris410. Although the sentence is a bit convoluted it does make sense. Armitage's poem "Hitcher" is told from the point of view of someone who gives a lift to a hitchhiker, but is then angered by what he sees as freeloading, assaults his passenger, and throws him out of the car in the middle of nowhere (if I recall correctly). So it is a little contradictory that Armitage himself then embarked on a journey for which he relied on the kindness of strangers. JezGrove (talk) 21:16, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

Coverage of media appearances
Armitage has appeared in multiple media, including podcasts, radio, and television. It simply isn't appropriate in a biography to go into huge detail with elaborately wikilinked lists of celebrities in purest WP:PEACOCK style about one particular programme or series, it's sufficient to say they're well-known. The article is about Armitage, not any particular work. If one such work or series is notable in itself, then it should have an article to itself, as some of his poetry books do, and then that work can be linked and briefly summarized.

The mention of poetry books should give us pause - Armitage is best known as a poet, and is indeed the poet laureate. Media appearances must be secondary to that, so we should not be giving WP:UNDUE prominence to media activities, specially if these do not have their own articles. The structure of the media section also leaves much to be desired, with a breathless and staccato "on the 22nd of Umptember 2037 Armitage ..." for every new appearance. It's highly doubtful whether each podcast or radio appearance is notable in itself, so these things would be much better described in brief summary "Armitage appeared many times on BBC Radio 4" (or whatever) rather than attempting to list them individually. Chiswick Chap (talk) 09:52, 10 July 2022 (UTC)


 * I guess "breathless and staccato" dating like that is very common in BLP articles. I tend to agree with you that not every appearance is necessarily worthy of inclusion. But naming notable guests on a popular podcast seems reasonable. As you say The Poet Laureate Has Gone To His Shed might well deserve its own article. Martinevans123 (talk) 10:10, 10 July 2022 (UTC)


 * The radio series/podcast was 12 + 9 hour-long episodes, each with a single guest, and the choice of guests illustrated Armitage's range of interests. The list of guest names is relevant and interesting and should stay in the article ... at least until I've finished the freestanding article I've now started on it (I had other plans for today but feel I'm being pressured into this). There was also some suggestion that his appearance in "Winter Walks" was undue: he was the central figure of a half-hour episode of a series in which an interesting person walks and talks in interesting places, so this is not just some routine tv coverage. Pam  D  10:47, 10 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Thanks for discussing. The freestanding article, which I can't say I expected you to write, will be very welcome, and obviously it will be briefly summarized, linked, and cited here, without repeating the guest-list. I'm not convinced that every half-hour episode is worth a mention here, as a principle, but if you feel that this one was specially out of the ordinary then we can go with that. What I do think is undue is the attempt to list every single item of reportage about Armitage; a poet laureate is going to appear at school prizegivings, village fetes, literary festivals, radio chatshows etc etc, and it really isn't encyclopedic to attempt to list them all. Chiswick Chap (talk) 10:57, 10 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Well done Pam. Very pleased to hear you're going to create that. I'd also say that he wasn't just a central figure in that "Winter Walks" episode, he was the figure. Thanks Martinevans123 (talk) 11:03, 10 July 2022 (UTC)


 * See The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed. I hope I got the capitalisation right! And yet again, it's lunchtime and the morning has gone down an unexpected Wiki rabbit-hole. Ah well. Happy Editing, all. (And, yes, I quite agree that the Winter Walks, and also Desert Island Discs, need to stay in the article as substantial items about him.)  Pam  D  12:09, 10 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Many thanks. The point remains that we must not uncritically put every ephemeral news item's breathless reporting into the article, it's a disastrous antithesis of article structure. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:47, 10 July 2022 (UTC)