In no particular order two cornerstones: Noel Coward & Frank Zappa.
Then some writers & performers: Jerome K. Jerome / J.R.R. Tolkien / Ted Hughes / Spike Milligan / Brian Patten / Anthony Burgess / Philip K. Dick / Leonard Cohen / Bertrand Russell / Iris Murdoch / Roger McGough / Adrian Henri / Norman MacCaig / Tove Jansson / John Donne / Douglas Dunn / the Beowulf author / Stevie Smith / Wallace Stevens / Douglas Adams / Petrarch / John Hegley / Monty Python's Flying Circus / A Bit Of Fry & Laurie / Garrison Keillor / Stephen Baxter / Bernard O'Donoghue / Arthur C. Clarke / Elizabeth Barrett Browning / Elizabeth Jennings / Olaf Stapledon / Plato / Socrates / Lucretius / William Blake / Richard Adams / William Cowper / Robert Falcon Scott / Apsley Cherry-Garrard / Robert Herrick / Pablo Neruda / Federico Garcia Lorca / Basho / Alan Moore / P.G. Wodehouse / Dame Judi Dench / Morecombe & Wise / Dino Buzzati / Robert M. Pirsig / Bernard Hoff / A.A. Milne / Barbara Firth / John Wagner / Alan Grant / Richard Scarry / Ivor Cutler / Nikolai Gogol / Joss Whedon / and others...
Then some musicians, bands & composers: Voice Of The Rain / Loudon Wainwright III / Tom Waits / Scott Walker / Fats Waller / Johnny Guitar Watson / Stephen Sondheim / XTC / Ruth Underwood / John Adams / George Antheil / Louis Armstrong / Patricia Barber / Barenaked Ladies / The Beautiful South / Bonzo Dog Band / Billy Bragg / Chas & Dave / The Cardigans / Leonard Cohen / Colorblind James Experience / Neil Hannon / Eric Dolphy / Lonnie Donegan / Emily Druce / George Duke / Ian Dury (& The Blockheads) / Bob Dylan / Earthling / Fascinating Aida / Fish / Ella Fitzgerald / Flotsam & Jetsam / Flanders & Swann / Jacques Brel / Jake Thackray / George Formby / Bob Geldof / W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan / Half Man Half Biscuit / Peter Warlock / Benjamin Britten / The Higsons / Benny Hill / Robyn Hitchcock / Jethro Tull / Philip Jeays / Mike Keneally / Ute Lemper / Peggy Lee / June Melby / Olivier Messiaen / Igor Stravinsky / Charles Mingus / Thelonious Monk / The Muffin Men / Rex Harrison / Conlon Nancarrow / Randy Newman / Earl Okin / John Otway / Arvo Part / Penguin Cafe Orchestra / Cole Porter / Prince / Project Adorno / Django Reinhardt / Scaffold / Siren Circus / Graham Fitkin / Allan Sherman / Victoria Wood / Arthur Askey / Suzanne Vega / and so on and so on...
And then all my friends, colleagues and acquaintances out there doing spoken word of any sort - I'm sure I've stolen something from all of you... so thanks.
A. F. Harrold is a performance poet of unimaginable imagination which sometimes makes things awkward, especially in social situations. But, heigh ho, eh? If life were simple it wouldn't be a Rubik's Cube.
You can go to www.afharrold.co.uk to learn more, see pictures and buy CDs, books and ephemera. It's quite fun.
And check back here, because the MP3s at the top there get changed every now and then.
Spring 2008: The new book The Man Who Spent Years In The Bath is now available to buy.
I just wonted to say a belated Thank you for your superb performance at our last show you were as cool as a robot that serves fantastic exotic booze and it was a privilege to have you on the bill take care HZ
your statuses have amused me so much I simply had to buy your book. Well done, how is it going? Pretty well I suspect. Just thought you should know I will not be doing to your book what I have done to many books, see link below for more details. Happy Saturday.
Cats are SO much better than fish. Thanks for linking me to you- you were the first friendly face I got to see on MySpace! Reminded me of my first ever gig, where you were also (and doing 'I Want to Be Your Poetry Tutor,' oh how I wish you did that more often despite its strenuous nature)! You in Oxford/London any time soon? x
stumbled across your page entirely by accident, looking for a friends metal band of all things. But I instantly became addicted to this left of centre act you've got going on here. It's far too rare to find someone willing to ignore the boundaries and just do what they find fun and amusing, moreso to find someone who'll do that and have other people actually respond. Props for the originality.
Hi Ashley. Thanks for your presence on Monday. T'was a good night and I hope you enjoyed it too. I'll get together with Helen and try and get you a copy of your slot on disc soon. Cheers me dear! Andi x
I read your poetry book over Christmas and it was wonderful...even if the poems were all about Yaks! Keep it up Mr Harrold! Hope to see you at another Farrago Poetry event sometime. Simon
