PAM AYRES - In Her Own Words  Main House

Sat 11 Feb at 7.30pm

“PAM AYRES is a poet for the people. Her verse portrays a wicked sense of humour, and deals with subjects not normally thought to be worthy of poetry.”   Melbourne Herald Sun

“PAM AYRES, the bestselling poet, writes as rhapsodically about the Wonderbra as Wordsworth did about daffodils.” The Guardian

Two press reviews from opposite ends of the world that admirably illustrate Pam’s enduring appeal to audiences of all ages. It’s over 30 years since Pam first appeared on the TV talent show “Opportunity Knocks”, and since then her comic poems have contributed enormously to the wider appeal today of all forms of poetry. Many of Pam’s poems feature in school textbooks around the world. She’s been a regular on BBC Radio over the years – on Radio2 with her own series, The Comedy Quiz, Pam Ayres’ Sunday Afternoon and Pam Ayres’ Open Road, and on Radio 4 in Just A Minute, That Reminds Me, The Right Time, Wireless Wise, and her own series Ayres On The Air, another series of which is broadcast this Spring.

Tickets: £16. Concessions £14.50.

PAM AYRES

• Pam Ayres’ career book sales to date exceed 2.5 million.

• There are poems by Pam Ayres in School English Textbooks throughout the world, including: UK, Hong Kong, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Poland, Scandinavia, USA, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

• Pam Ayres’ children’s novel, The Nubbler (Pub. 1997, Weidenfeld & Nicolson) was translated into Japanese.

• Often referred to as The People’s Poet, one of Pam Ayres’ poems was voted into the UK’s Top Ten Comic Poems in a survey commissioned by the BBC in 1998.

• During the past ten years Pam Ayres has presented several series on both BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4.

• In the UK Arts Council’s report on poetry, Rhyme and Reason, (Pub.2000) the report identified Pam Ayres as being the fifth best-selling poet during the years 1998 & 1999, following Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy, and Sylvia Plath.

• In 2002, one of Pam’s latest poems, They Should Have Asked My Husband, was selected by listeners to be repeated on BBC Radio 4’s programme Pick Of The Week, and subsequently on Pick Of The Year.

• Pam Ayres has performed her solo show for a private performance for HM The Queen at St. James’ Palace.

• In the 2004 Ledbury Poetry Festival, (described by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion as “the best in the country”), Pam Ayres’ show was the fastest-selling event of the Festival.

• Pam Ayres was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2004.

• 2005 marks 30 years since Pam Ayres first appeared on TV’s Opportunity Knocks, and it is undeniable that her work over that period has paved the way for the increase in the popularity of poetry generally, and performance poetry in particular.

• Also in 2005, Pam featured in a Reader’s Digest survey to find Britain’s 20 Funniest Women.