John Hegley
BSc in Social Sciences (1976)
John Hegley is a poet, comedian and musician. He studied at University of Bradford and has built a distinctive career across stage, radio, television and festivals.
This is his story.
Bradford felt like the place where something new might happen.
Where my journey began
"I didn’t grow up thinking I must go to university. After my A levels I went straight into work at the Social Security Office. I didn’t know how long I was going to be there; I could easily have stayed there for years."
"But I had friends who’d gone to university who seemed happy, and something in me thought maybe I was missing out. I had a sense they were doing something important, and that led me to apply. I was living in Bristol by then, but my childhood had been in Luton."
"I applied to Bradford and Lancaster. Bradford appealed because the Social Sciences degree covered a spread of subjects, which felt similar to the mix I’d enjoyed at A level. I later specialised in sociology and European literature/history of ideas. Bradford felt like the place where something new might happen."
"Oddly enough, football played a hand in my story with the city. I’d gone to see Luton Town play Bradford City back in 1967. We lost 2–0 but I really liked it. There was a world-within-a-world feel around Valley Parade: back alleys like in Coronation Street, printed matchday papers, the broadsheet-sized Pink ’Un I adored."
"I’ve always had an obsession with printed matter. My wife says I never put anything down once I’ve picked it up, so even that football paper became part of how I connected with the place."
Photo courtesy of Suzi Corker.
I had a privileged education by coming to Bradford, not only academically but through the city itself and the people who live there.
My Time at Bradford
"I wrote a song about Rawson Market and a poem inspired by the old Dr. Martens shop, complete with drawings. Those early pieces showed me how far poetry could stretch."
"The central library was just as important; discovering Michael Horovitz’s The Wolverhampton Wanderer there, with its poems about football and Peter Blake’s illustrations, was a revelation. I later wrote about the Paradise Curry House, and all of these places left as deep a mark on me as anything I learned in lectures."
"The academic work opened doors I didn’t know were there: ideas about truth and adequacy in science. I remember reading René Girard’s Deceit, Desire and the Novel and considering how people want things because others seem to want them."
"These experiences changed the way I thought about people, their motives, and the ideas that guide them. It was the sort of thinking I hadn’t encountered before. It all stayed with me and much later fed into my book A Scarcity of Biscuit, inspired by the poems and letters of John Keats."
A career built on learning
"When I left university, I moved to London. My girlfriend spotted an advert: “musician wanted to work with children’s summer theatre.” She said, “You play music. You’ve worked with kids. Apply”. So I did, and that led to community arts work, then to Soapbox Theatre, then to cabaret stages where the poems began to find their way in among the songs."
"There were milestones: recording a John Peel session with my band The Popticians in 1983, going from unknown to known, really. You didn’t get a great deal of money from doing a BBC session, but it was a privilege and a milestone. My first Edinburgh solo show in 1989 and a Perrier nomination."
John with poet and performer Malaika Kegode.
"The Guardian giving me a slot as their weekly poet alongside Simon Rae in the ’90s. Becoming Poet in Residence at Keats House. It was an extraordinary gift, quiet, reflective, and it brought me back to the academic thread I’d once wondered about, and to Keats’s letters, which I still read and recommend endlessly."
"The most interesting part of my work is the variety. I’ve worked in schools, in prisons. I perform at Glastonbury, find out what other poets are doing, and enjoy hearing the younger performers coming through with their work."
Advice for future poets and performers
"Have faith in your instincts. We’re animals and we need to trust our instincts and intuitions, like a cat sussing out the traffic and going for wanders. That’s important for any job."
"When it comes to writing, read poetry. Speak it aloud. Go randomly to the shelves in the library and read. Start a small poetry group and listen to other people. Draw and respond to your own doodles. Let the words and drawings talk to one another. And enjoy the words. Really enjoy them."
