Punk poet Cooper Clarke recalls support act from Michael D Higgins

Peerless punk poet John Cooper Clarke will be in Dublin and Cork over the next week. The first time he gigged in Ireland was back in "1979ish" at the Project Arts Centre. He was then at the height of his fame.

“I was ably supported by your president, Michael D Higgins,” he says. “I’ve since met Michael D at a film festival in Galway a year ago. He went to a great deal of trouble to point this out to me!.”

Clarke grew up in Salford, Manchester. The wrestler Giant Haystacks, whose parents were from Co Mayo, was in school with Clarke during the late 1950s.