TWICKENHAM: Twickfolk @ The Cabbage Patch Pub

Sunday 14th December, 2014

7:45pm

Event information

LES BARKER writes strange poems and comes from originally from Manchester, but he’s now Welsh. He was an accountant before he became a professional idiot. He’s written 77 books, which sell in large numbers at his gigs because people don’t quite believe what they’ve just heard. His poems have spawned a number of folk heroes: Jason and the Arguments, Cosmo the Fairly Accurate Knife Thrower, Captain Indecisive and Spot of the Antarctic, to name but two.

Les has several solo albums to his credit: ‘Dogologues’, An Infinite Number of Occasional Tables’, ‘A Cardi and Bloke’, ‘Up the creek without a poodle’, ‘Arovertherapy’ and ‘The War on Terrier’. He has travelled the length, breadth and height of Great Britain, as well as Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and North America and has more recently won prizes for his Welsh poetry, including 3 small chairs, one for a Stomp (a Welsh language poetry slam), one at the North East Wales Learners’ Eisteddfod, and one from the Learners’ Pavilion at the National Eisteddfod. He could do with a table now.

In addition there are five highly acclaimed albums of his serious work; the folk opera ‘The Stones of Callanish’, ‘Some Love’, ‘The Wings of Butterflies’, Airs of the Dog’ and ‘Twilight of the Dogs’, all involving a galaxy of talent. His serious songs have also featured on albums by Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, and by June Tabor. June invariably includes a smattering of his serious and comic songs in her live performances. The Kingston Trio and Tom Paxton have also recorded his songs.

…he may be the best writer of parodies and wordplays that the English-speaking world has ever heard.
- Tom Nelligan, Dirty Linen

There are subtleties which you didn’t notice the first time round, and there are clever puns and turns of phrase so good you look forward to hearing them again.
- Caroline Walker, Folk Roots

A genuine genius of comic rhyme who appeals to people of all ages with a truly entertaining family show. I have seen him reduce a whole marquee full of festival goers at Victor Harbor to a mass of helpless laughter and aching sides.
- Ron Ashton, Port Lincoln Times, Australia

Les Barker is the greatest comedy talent we possess…. He’s a master at exploiting the idiosyncracies of the English language, weaving in myth and history to build bizarre stories.
- Agraman, City Life

The Lancashire monologist equivalent of Tom Lehrer….Scintillating daftness, absurdity run amok.
- Ken Hunt, Q Magazine

Les Barker blends Edward Lear’s nonsense, Stanley Unwin’s wordplay, the surreal inconsequentiality of Reeves and Mortimer and the demotic robustness of Stanley Holloway monologues.
- Martin Hoyle, Financial Times

…his jokes, having slipped the surly bonds of earthly logic, go marching on.
- Nick Beale, Folk Roots

67 London Road
Twickenham
Middlesex
TW1 3SZ

www.twickfolk.co.uk