John Hegley was born in Newington Green, north London, and was educated in Luton, Bristol and Bradford University.
His first public performance monies came from busking his songs, initially outside a shoeshop in Hull, in the late Seventies. He performed on the streets of London
in the early Eighties, fronting the Popticians, with whom he also recorded two sessions for John Peel, and has since been a frequent performer of his words, sung and
spoken, on both local and national radio.
He has produced over 20 books of verse and prose pieces, cassettes and CDs and one mug, but his largest source of income is from stages on his native island. An Edinburgh Festival
regular, he is noted for his exploration of such diverse topics as dog hair, potatoes, handkerchieves and the misery of human existence.
He is an occasional DJ, dancer and workshop leader, using drawing, poetry and gesture. He has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts from what is now the University
of Bedfordshire, and once performed in a women’s prison in Columbia.
Interested in learning more about Newham Bookshop and some of the people connected with it? We have four lessons for classroom or family use developed from On the Record’s oral history project centered around Newham Bookshop, Writing and Reading Newham. Click here for full details.
Newham Bookshop is LoveReading’s Bookshop of the Month
We are proud that Newham Bookshop is LoveReading’s Bookshop of the Month. The article features a Q&A with Vivian Archer, which you can read here.
