REAPPOINTED AS HARROW'S COMMUNITY POET

I’m delighted to tell you that I’ve been reappointed as your Community Poet for another year. I’m already planning events for next year with Carillion, the library people.

First on the list will be Holocaust Memorial Day on 27th January - unlike many of the occasions we will be holding, this will be a commemoration and not a celebration.

One jamboree we are happy to invite you all to will be World Poetry Day on the 21st March. I’m hoping that will be an open mic evening with all of you welcome. Again, nearer the time I’ll give you details - but it’s not too soon to start writing some poetry.

I’ll let you know more of the details when we have them.

But this isn’t all about me. Please let me know if you have any ideas of events you’d like to be involved in.

Just so you know some of the other things I do, I give talks on the origin of words and phrases and also the stories behind nursery rhymes.

Here’s one to get you thinking.

Why are a person’s fists called his ‘dukes’?

Because the Duke of Wellington had a very large nose; therefore men with large noses were called ‘dukes’. Then their noses were given this name. A hand doubled into a fist was called a ‘duke buster’. The ‘buster’ was dropped and the fists became ‘dukes’.

Our language is endlessly fascinating and I do hope you share my love for it.