PERHAPS Britain's most defining voice in poetry and language is heading to Basingstoke next month, armed with a new set of poems The Gazette caught up with the poet ahead of his show at The Haymarket.

During the early sixties, Liverpool was the cultural hub of the world, bringing 'Merseybeat' to the international masses. The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Searchers all provided a soundtrack for the first generation unconditioned by WW2, who were ready for their own rebellious battle. 

Under the commercial humdrum, there was another scene exploding on the streets of Merseyside - beat poetry and again the city was at its heart.

Leading this revolution of bringing the poetry from out of dusty, ageing books and to within earshot of the youth was celebrated poet Roger McGough.

Famed for his role in The Scaffold, a group notable for its hit 'Lily the Pink', this latest set of shows sees the 78-year-old hit the road again with another band - LiTTLe MACHiNe.

Not that he wants to remember those days.

"We don't have to mention those days again do we," McGough asks The Gazette. 

"Liverpool inevitably has been written about, but it hasn't been an ongoing thing through my work.

"But back in the 60s, it was the heart of where there were people taking poetry out of the library and into a scene and bringing it too the people.

"There are so many poets now and so much has changed. But the main thing is I tend to turn up to festivals like Latitude and whilst I'm there with my big book of poems, there are these younger poets using their iPhones."

He added: "The attitudes of poetry continually change and this is what happens. I'm not too precious about my roots but just have to write about influences."

Hilarious and surreal, McGough is a poet of many voices. Menace and melancholy there may be, but with plenty of McGough's characteristic wit and wordplay too. 

His latest book It Never Rains is a collection of new verses with drawings by the author. President of the Poetry Society, he has been honoured with a CBE for services to literature and the Freedom of the City of Liverpool.

But as time goes on and the days of his youth become ever faded, its reflection time for McGough.

"I did a show called Live Age in Stoke-on-Trent - can't remember if Bob Geldof was there," he continued.

"And as time gets on, so does the influence in my poems. You can't keep writing as a 20-year-old because that's not what your feeling.

"There are more eulogies nowadays than love songs."

Roger McGough and LiTTLe MACHiNe, the charming ensemble that recreates poetry to classical sounds, come to The Haymarket on Tuesday October 11.

Tickets are £16 and for more information visit anvilarts.org.uk.