He was awarded his O.B.E. for services to poetry in 1997 and more recently a C.B.E. He was recently honoured with the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.
His latest poetry volume is That Awkward Age (Penguin) and, for children, All The Best , The Bees’ Knees and now Slapstick (all Puffin). Live concert cd Lively available here.
His autobiography Said And Done (Century) explores overnight fame with Lily The Pink, The Scaffold and Yellow Submarine which he helped write for the Beatles.
Recorded at Greenbelt 2010: 13.00 Monday, Centaur
Got your #gb40 tickets yet? Head to our box office to start looking forward to the summer: http://t.co/Yb4X9kZzNM