When Carl Plover was a boy his mother read Under Milkwood to him and his new show marks today’s centenary of the Welshman’s birth, says Colette Sheridan

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.

Robbie Williams was declared a pop idol at the Q Awards with other winners including Ellie Goulding, Pet Shop Boys and Jake Bugg.

Now there’s a great idea for a song title. Though, like the noted Mancunian poet, John Cooper Clarke, I’d probably only end up getting ripped off by the unscrupulous music biz if I bothered to flesh it out.

Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner has lavished praise on English 'punk poet' John Cooper Clarke for his rhyming efforts on the band's new single.