Death of a Poet Episode III: The Summer of his Life

The Bingley Byron is the toast of the Bradford arts scene, but trouble’s brewing as he sets out his stall as an establishment rhymer. And back in the present, a descendant of the poet meets his likeness at the University of Leeds.  Also known as The Orpheus of Bradford and The Airedale Poet, John Nicholson was a Methodist preacher and a tormented drinker, a rambler on Rombald’s Moor and a champion of industry, a conservative and a radical, a woolsorter and a classically-inclined poet.   He got arrested in London for arguing with a bust of Shakespeare; became a pawn in one of the great political scraps of the 19th century; played the oboe; fathered nine children; and ad-libbed untold quantities of rhyme for his pals in the pub, most of which has been lost to intoxication and the passage of time.   In 1993 Northern Broadsides legend Barrie Rutter brought him back to life on the stage in Tony Harrison’s play Poetry or Bust. We’ve used Harrison’s archive, held here in Cultural Collections at the University of Leeds, to retrace his steps, in the steps, in turn, of John Nicholson.   Only a brief biography on The Bingley Byron survives, but we’ve gathered a cast of poets, actors, artists, bellringers, historians, enthusiasts – and a direct descendant – to return to the poems that Nicholson did write down, and the places where he lived and died, to unearth his chaotic, charismatic story. Through his life and work, we think about art, joy, memory, grief, and what we leave behind us.   From the meadow pipits, skylarks and standing stones of Ilkley Moor to the river at Saltaire where he met his end, join us in the footsteps of The Bingley Byron.     Series credits Presented by Dr RJ Wade with Paul Bennett Dr Adam Bridgen Dr Vic Clarke Felix Cryer Alex Duxbury Tom Duxbury Karl Grave Allan Mirfield Conrad Nelson Hadley Nicholson Sarah Prescott Catherine Robinson Elaine Robinson Harold Robinson Barrie Rutter Siân Thomas Dom Basil Watkins OSB Glyn Watkins Professor John Whale The Bellringers of All Saints Church, Bingley Jane Callaghan Ann Cossavella Karl Grave Jane Lynch Helen Mitchell-Hall Mary Picken Gary Picken Peter Tedder Hydrophone recordings made on location in the River Aire, Saltaire by Daniel Skevington Produced and edited by Rowland Thomas Music The Farmer’s Boy (Traditional) Air: ‘O, much lov'd Son, if Death’, from Artaxerxes (Thomas Arne) Arranged and performed by Alice Gilmour and The Infernal Cauldron Sound design by The Infernal Cauldron Trailer edit by Alex Ramseyer-Bache. Wildlife footage by Tom Duxbury.