Julian Clary, Wendy Cope, Carmen Aguirre, Patrick Deeley

Midweek

Libby Purves meets poet Wendy Cope; performer Julian Clary; poet Patrick Deeley and actor and playwright Carmen Aguirre.

Wendy Cope OBE is a poet. A former teacher and television critic, she has written on a variety of topics including education, romance, religion, television and psychoanalysis. She has been commissioned by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to write poems to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the playwright's death. In 2011 she donated her archive of correspondence and diaries to the British Library. Her book Life, Love and the Archers is published by Two Roads.

Patrick Deeley is an Irish poet and former teacher and principal. He has published six collections of poetry including Decoding Samara and The Bones of Creation. In his memoir, The Hurley Maker's Son, he tells of growing up in rural Ireland with a wood worker father who made hurley sticks in his Galway workshop. The Hurley Maker's Son is published by Doubleday Ireland.

Carmen Aguirre is an actor and playwright. She is the daughter of Chilean revolutionaries who, from the age of six, lived in exile in North America and as a young adult actively fought the Chilean dictatorship herself. In her memoir, Mexican Hooker #1: And Other Roles Since the Revolution, she tells of her personal struggles to find her own identity after the revolution. Mexican Hooker #1: And My Other Roles Since the Revolution is published by Portobello Books.

Julian Clary is a comedian, performer and writer. He became a household name in the late 1980s and has appeared on numerous TV shows including Strictly Come Dancing, Have I Got News For You and is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute. He has starred in West End productions of Taboo and Cabaret, and appears in panto most years. He is on tour in his one man show, the Joy of Mincing and new children's book, the Bolds to the Rescue, is published by Anderson Press.

Producer: Paula McGinley.