John Hegley was born in Newington Green, London, in 1953, and grew up in Luton and Bristol. After attending Bradford University he returned to London and joined the community arts collective Interaction; he has continued their interactive ethos ever since. During the early 1980s he was a regular performer at London’s Comedy Store and also recorded with The Popticians, including two sessions for John Peel’s BBC Radio One programme. He has worked regularly on radio and television and remains a popular performer across the UK and abroad, blending poetry, comedy and song. In 2012 he was the Writer in Residence at Keats House, in Hampstead, London.
His Bloodaxe New & Selected Potatoes includes work from a dozen collections, from Visions of the Bone Idol (1984) to Peace, Love & Potatoes (Serpent's Tail, 2012), plus a generous helping of New Potatoes (2013).
